Legend of the Big Four: The Return of Pitch Black
by iloveinheritance
Summary: Rapunzel, Merida, Hiccup, and Jack are fated to meet to defeat the ultimate evil. Mother Gothel, Mor'du and Pitch Black are not dead, but quite alive and ready for revenge with the help of an Outcast chief. Will the Big Four defeat them, or will they fall prey to the many trials they face? A Hiccstrid and Jarida story. Rated T for some violence/ideologically sensitive scenes.
1. Prologue: The Enemy

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**PROLOGUE: The Enemy**

_**July 15, 1296 AD, 8:47 PM.**_

She lay in wait.

Her eyes narrowed as she thought of her. The girl. The girl she had treated as a daughter for all those years, and never got any thanks for it.

She hadn't dared to return to the tower—the tower she had called home for eighteen years. Too much of a chance the girl or the thief might come back to it. They believed she was dead.

She nearly laughed aloud at the thought. She—the most learned witch of her time—dead! Yes, she had jumped out of the tower. Yes, she had disappeared into dust once she hit the ground. _But she was not dead._ Not very far from it, but not yet.

As a witch, she had simply vanished into a place no one would ever find her. She was there now, looking into a cauldron with a shimmering potion that showed her whatever she wanted to see. And currently she saw the castle in the kingdom of Corona.

She clenched her arthritic fists as she watched her, watched her walk onto a balcony with her fiancé. The girl. The thief. They were getting married soon, she couldn't believe it! How dare they, it was as though they were making fun of her memory!

The short brown hair nearly sent the witch into a tantrum of rage. That girl who no longer had her long golden hair, she would pay. She would suffer for—no. _The thief._ He was the one. He had cut the girl's hair. He had sent her to this abyss. He had caused her to be old. He had taken away her flower.

He would pay the price.

She would get her revenge by taking away everything he loved, making him suffer, then finally taking his life.

Mother Gothel would kill Flynn Rider and Rapunzel Corona if it was the last thing she ever did.

††

He lay in wait.

Every time he thought about the boy he almost screamed. That boy, the dragon-trainer, he was the cause of all his problems. If only that ninety-pound teenage runt wasn't so smart and resourceful. But then, he wouldn't be a dragon-trainer if he wasn't.

The dragons on his island were almost not trainable. Except for the boy. If anyone could do it, he could.

But how to get at him? He had tried a direct approach, an attack on the island—

The island.

His old home.

His eyes flashed with rage as he thought about it. Stoick had cast him out for killing a man. All right, so maybe the argument they had had wasn't worth getting so upset over. But still, that Viking had angered him, and in his eyes, he had deserved to die.

The only way to get revenge was to steal Stoick's boy. Use him to train all the dragons, then kill him and dump his body on Stoick's doorstep. Or maybe…He smiled evilly. He would mark the boy as a slave. His slave, the slave of the Chief of Outcasts. Even if Stoick did manage to capture him back, he could never be Chief of the Hairy Hooligan tribe, as the Viking law stated that no one marked as a slave could ever become Chief of any tribe.

Brilliant.

Alvin the Treacherous then swore he would capture Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III if it was the last thing he ever did.

††

He lay in wait.

A bear would normally not be able to think clearly. But he was no ordinary bear.

He remembered the red-haired little wretch. She had ruined his life as a bear. He had enjoyed terrorizing the Scots, had enjoyed taking out his anger on the kingdom of Dunbroch.

But the day that princess turned her own mother into a bear, explored his sanctuary, and had the nerve to try to kill him, he had burned with hatred so fierce he had surprised himself.

Then her father's army had been called and they had nearly destroyed him. Especially the redhead's mother. As a bear herself, she should have understood him. But she hadn't. She had tried to kill him like everyone else. And she had then incurred his wrath too.

But all his current problems had started with that girl.

Mor'du decided that Merida Dunbroch, and her mother Queen Elinor too, would die by his paw, if it was the last thing he ever did.

††

He lay in wait.

He felt in his black heart that he would rise again, more powerful than ever before. His nightmares and and darkness would reign again. It would be like the Dark Ages, only this time it would never end.

But wasn't that what he thought before the Guardians had defeated him the second time? He hesitated in his thinking, unsure of himself.

_No_, he thought, _this time I will outwit them all. Even that smart-alecky little ice-slinger._

He felt that help was on the way. Humans. Three of them stood out in his mind. But how could they help him? _Why_ would they help him? They would be just as frightened of him as—

Then he smiled as realized what all three, no, all _four_ of them, including himself, had in common.

Revenge.

Revenge was something to be feared.

Pitch Black vowed he would destroy Jack Frost and the Guardians if it was the last thing he ever did.


	2. Ch 1: One Whose Gold Hair Does Beguile

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 1: One Whose Gold Hair Does Beguile**

_**July 16, 1296 AD, 3:34 PM.**_

Even a year later, Rapunzel still couldn't believe her luck.

She was a princess. She had real parents who really loved her for who she was. She was free from the woman who had pretended to be her mother while really only keeping her so she could use Rapunzel's hair.

And best of all, she was going to be married in a few weeks.

Rapunzel couldn't wait for August 9th. Eugene Fitzherbert, her fiancé, couldn't wait either. They had wanted to be married straightaway, as soon as Eugene had met her parents and they had acquitted him of the charges of thievery. But alas, that was not to be. King Randulf and Queen Lucia had wished to get to know Eugene and their daughter better, and Rapunzel decided that the least she could do for her parents was to wait a year for the marriage.

That year was almost up.

Rapunzel was almost nineteen, and the marriage was set for a few days after her birthday, so that the marriage feast and the birthday banquet could happen at the same time.

She was standing on her bedroom balcony, looking down at the beautiful kingdom that she would rule someday. Corona had been a happy place before the lost princess had returned, but since she had come back, the ecstasy almost never ended. Many times a day, Rapunzel would stroll through the village, bringing joy to the children and the townspeople, cheering up the sad and grieving, and settling small quarrels among the sellers and customers in the marketplace.

Today was the day that Rapunzel would be fitted for her wedding gown. She smiled as she saw it in her mind's eye. It was white, of course, studded with pearls and with gold trimming around the neckline, the hem, and the edges of the sleeves. Gold trimming, gold, like her hair…

Rapunzel stopped smiling. Her face became overcome with sadness as she remembered her seventy-foot-long hair that had helped her so much. How it healed, made one young of age. How it had glowed in the deep, dark water as she and Eugene, known to her then as Flynn, were drowning….Then she had used it to heal a cut on Flynn's hand. Oh, the look on his face when he saw that the cut had disappeared…

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't hear footsteps creep up behind her. "Boo!" said a male voice, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her up on her toes.

"Eugene! Stop it!" She laughed, but without any feeling.

"Whew! Even without all that hair, you are one heavy princess," said Eugene, putting her back on the ground. Rapunzel looked at him, not in the mood to joke around.

He caught sight of her hurt face. "Sorry, blondie," he apologized, then did a mental facepalm as she put her head down on the balcony rail. "Sorry, _Rapunzel_. Hey, is it okay if I call you Punzie? Wow, that's kinda weird, we've been together all this time and I've never asked you that. Punzie, I know I'm technically not supposed to see you in your wedding gown before the wedding (bad luck and all) but I was wondering, could I see you in it after the fitting anyway, because I think I need to know what to expect on our wedding day, because I don't want to get up there and see you walk down that aisle and then have a heart attack becau—"

"Give your mouth a rest, Eugene! Please!" Rapunzel blurted out, lifting up her head suddenly and spinning to face him. Eugene looked rather shocked at this outburst, then indignant. He was just about to give her a piece of his mind when his fiancée's lower lip began to tremble and her eyes watered.

"Aw, Punzie, what happened to the sweet-natured, happy princess at breakfast this morning? Did Pascal actually win at hide and seek this time?" His eyes widened. "It's the wedding, isn't it? You're too nervous to go through with it, aren't you? Stress too much for you? You want to call it off, wait a couple more years or so? Or—" he lowered his voice to a whisper, "—there's someone else, isn't there?"

Rapunzel spun around again and placed two fingers none-too-gently on his lips. Her face, which a moment ago had been filled with sadness, was now masked with irritation. Eugene looked down at her fingers on his mouth, then looked into those angry eyes that clearly said _something very bad is going to happen in a few minutes if you don't shut up_. "Too many jokes?" he asked in a small voice.

Rapunzel closed her eyes, breathed deeply, and turned back to the railing. "Okay, first of all, it is not okay to call me Punzie. Unless I'm in a really good mood. Second of all—" she slumped to the ground and flopped her arms over the balcony "—if you must know what my problem is—"

She hesitated. She had never told anybody this, except Pascal, her chameleon. She had been afraid that if she told this to an actual human, they would judge her and call her self-centered. Pascal was her forever friend and wouldn't do that, which was why she had told him.

She decided to just jump right in. After all, this guy was her future husband. He wouldn't be so quick to judge, right? "I miss my hair. I'm trying not to sound petty or shallow, but I miss my hair. There, I said it."

Eugene sat down beside her. "You don't sound petty or shallow, Rapunzel," he replied softly. "I understand. You grew up with that hair. You could swing on it, heal people with it, make others look younger than they actually were—heck, that stuff was a weapon of mass destruction, and I should know!" he laughed, recalling when he and Rapunzel had first met.

Rapunzel looked up and shot a smile at him, then it vanished. "I just wish there was something I could do to get it back," she whispered.

"Come on, Punzie. Let's get some life back into you." Eugene stretched and got back up. "We've got a lot of things to do today."

"The fitting's not until later in the evening. I'm just going to sit and think awhile. And don't call me Punzie," Rapunzel answered.

"Thinking is dangerous pastime. Too dangerous for a damsel like you. Let's go for a walk in the village. Come on."

"Too bad. I'm not moving from this spot."

Eugene thought for a minute. Then a sneaky grin appeared on his face. "Oh, I know what'll get you to move from that spot."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" Rapunzel said.

Then it dawned on her. She looked at him sharply. "_No_. Don't you _dare_."

Too late. Eugene had already begun The Smolder. Then he began to make kissing noises at her.

"_Eugene_! I said NO!" she screamed with mirth. She scrambled from her spot, running into her room, searching for a place she could get away from him, all while giggling helplessly. Darn it! If only she had long blond hair instead of short brown hair. Then she could swing up to the ceiling and stay there.

Eugene was too quick for her. She shrieked as his arms wrapped around her slender frame and lifted her straight off the ground. "All right! All right! You win!" she shouted, just as King Randulf and Queen Lucia entered the room.

Eugene saw them first. Not wanting to look undignified in front of royalty, he dropped Rapunzel. Not expecting to be dropped so quickly, she slipped on her purple dress and fell to the floor. Eugene swiftly picked her up and dusted her off, while she smoothed her hair and her dress. Then they booth stood to attention, Eugene's hands clasped behind his back and Rapunzel's hands folded in front.

Rapunzel smiled brightly at her parents. "Hello, Mom! Hello, Dad! How are you this afternoon?"

Eugene gave a sheepish grin.

Lucia and Randulf didn't know what to think. Then Lucia, choosing to overlook the incident, beamed at her daughter. "We have some nice news for you, dear. Come and walk with us, and we will tell you all about it. You too, Flynn!"

Eugene cleared his throat; he was always nervous when talking to people of high class, afraid of offending them. "Um, ahem, er, er, it's Eugene, ahem, your Majesty."

Lucia laughed. "Terribly sorry, Eugene. My goodness, you would think that I would have learned your name by now, wouldn't you?"

They walked down to go to afternoon tea in the dining hall. Once they were seated and eating queen cakes and sipping raspberry tea, Randulf began, "It appears that we shall have some Scottish guests at your wedding, Rapunzel."

"Excuse me, Dad, but what are Scottish guests?"

Eugene groaned inwardly. Rapunzel still had a lot to learn about the real world. And she wasn't exactly afraid to let that be known.

"Scotland is another country, my dear, much like you have been learning about in lessons with your mother. They also have a king, a great man by the name of Fergus DunBroch. He was a childhood playmate of mine; my father would take me to Scotland when he had to conduct business, and I met Fergus in the forest one day. We became the best of friends.

"He also has a wife, Elinor, and a daughter about your age, Merida. Merida has three brothers, Hamish, Hubert, and Harris, and they will all be attending your wedding. We invited rather on the spot, I'm afraid. We really hoped you wouldn't mind…"

"Of course not, Dad! Maybe we can be friends, like you and Fergus are!" Rapunzel replied excitedly. "When are they coming?"

"They will arrive on August 2nd, one week before your wedding, and during that time we must get the castle ready to receive them," Lucia answered. "We must be gracious to them at all times; Scotland is our most powerful ally, and we wouldn't want to offend them."

††

_**7:53 PM.**_

Mother Gothel heard everything.

Having used her witch's knowledge to create a potion that would change her into an animal, she had transformed into a pigeon and perched on the tiles above Rapunzel's room, and heard Rapunzel's wish: that she had her glorious, magical hair back again. Then she had flown to the other side of the palace, when the dining hall was, and heard that the DunBrochs would be arriving in a little more than three weeks.

She also heard the date of the wedding.

Now back at her cave, she smiled evilly as a plan formed in her malevolent mind. Perhaps there was a way to grant her own wish of revenge and the wish of Rapunzel. But if Rapunzel wanted her hair back, it would come at a price.

Gothel had heard not so long ago about a Resurrection Draught—not a potion that would raise one from the dead, but one that would restore things to their former selves.

However, the only vial that had actually been proven to be existent was in the possession of one Madam Mim—the most powerful witch in the world. And of course she had to live in Scotland, of course she had to live a few hundred miles away. That would only make Gothel's journey to get the potion harder, and she doubted she was strong enough to use magic to get there.

Well, maybe she could use her magic to get most of the way there, across the sea at the very least, and as she finished the journey she could formulate a plan to trick Mim into giving her the draught. Because Gothel knew Mim was rather daft, but not daft enough to just hand it over.

Gothel's mind wandered back to the effects of the potion. What a single drop could do! Her eyes lit up at the thought that the draught could restore her youth. Then she could trick Rapunzel into drinking it and getting her hair back. Then…Gothel paused in her thinking as an idea came to her. Why kill Rapunzel? The Resurrection Draught would not last evermore, not on Gothel at least. Rapunzel would have her hair back, the hair that could ever restore Gothel's youth. She could use Rapunzel's hair to keep her young forever, or until Rapunzel died.

Gothel made a new vow that night.

Flynn Rider would die. Sparing him was out of the question. But Rapunzel would be Gothel's slave for the rest of her life.


	3. Ch 2: One Who with a Bow is Agile

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 2: One Who with a Bow is Agile**

_**July 16, 1296 AD, 5:01 PM.**_

"Come on, Mum!" cried Merida.

"Ah'm tryin', dear, Ah really am!" replied the mother of the nineteen-year-old princess, Queen Elinor of the Scots. The Queen and her daughter were practicing archery, like they had been doing for the past year. Well, Merida was practicing. Elinor was still having trouble stretching the bowstring back far enough to actually shoot an arrow.

Merida rode her beloved black horse, Angus, and the Queen was riding her own royal steed, a white bay called Brigitte, even though Merida had told Elinor numerous times that Brigitte wasn't the type of horse to use for tramping through the forest. The poor mare was tripping over roots, logs, and the occasional fallen tree branch, unable to stop in time to avoid them. As a result, Elinor's aim at the various targets in the woods was worse than if they had been practicing in the courtyard, and her aim there was already pretty bad.

But Scots in those times were stubborn, and Elinor refused to give up. Her daughter had shown her how important it was to lead your own life, and the least she could do in return was to spend some quality time doing what her daughter liked to do. Which, of course, involved something the Queen had hardly ever touched, let alone used.

Elinor stopped Brigitte and aimed an arrow at a target hanging from a tree limb. She pulled back as far as she could—not very far—and let it fly, only to have it land between Brigitte's ears, causing the horse to snort at the sudden weight on her head. Merida stifled a laugh as her mother sighed.

"Here, Mum, ye've got tae pull the string back farther. Ye've got tae use more strength than ye have been. Like this." Merida's arrow hit the bull's-eye of the target.

"Oh Merida, ye know Ah'm tryin', but Ah havenae got the strength tae do that. Ah truly wish Ah could do the things ye do, but Ah just can't!"

Merida sighed. She had known from the start that her mother probably couldn't do anything Merida could do, but she had thought, _why not give it a try?_ That try had turned into arrows through glass windows, injured townsfolk, and even an encounter with some nasty-tempered hunters who hadn't recognized the Queen and her daughter because they were so scratched up and muddy.

"Speaking of the things we do, Ah believe it's time for your history lessons," Elinor continued. Merida sighed even louder; her mother still insisted on giving her lessons two hours a day, claiming that "if yore goin' tae run around shootin' arrows ye might as well be educated so ye know wot tae shoot them at."

††

_**5:28 PM.**_

Back in the castle, Merida and Elinor brought up biscuits and tea to Merida's room to have a snack while they talked.

"Alright, let's review yesterday's lesson," Elinor began. "Wot are the nine Vikin' tribes in the Barbaric Archipelago?"

"The Visithugs, the Uglithugs, the Meatheads, the Hysterics, the Bashem-Oiks, the Bog-Burglars, the Berserkers, the Outcasts, and the Hairy Hooligans," Merida answered in a bored tone.

"On which islands in the Archipelago do these tribes live?"

"The Visithugs live in the Visithug Territory. The Uglithugs live on the Isle of Villainy. The Meatheads live on Meathead Island. The Hysterics live on the Island of Hysteria. The Bashem-Oiks live on Bashem Island. The Bog-Burglars live scattered among the Bog-Burglar Islands. The Berserkers live on the Isle of Berserk. The Outcasts live on Outcast Island, and the Hairy Hooligans live on the Isle of Berk."

"Excellent. Now, wot are the names of the Chiefs of each of these tribes?"

Merida would have to give a little more thought to this one. "Umm, the Chief of the Meatheads is Mogadon the…somethin', Ah forget. The Chief of the Bog-Burglars is Big-Boobied Bertha. The Chief of the Berserkers is Oswald the Agreeable…no it ain't, it's his son, Dagur the Deranged. The Chief of the Hooligans is Stoick the Vast. The Chief of the Outcasts is Alvin the Treacherous."

"Yes, dear, keep goin'."

"Mum, Ah have a question," Merida said suddenly.

Elinor rubbed her temples and sat down wearily. "When don't ye have a question, Merida?"

Merida squirmed uncomfortably. "Sorry, Mum, but Ah was just thinkin'. Ye said that Vikin's don't have any morals, an' that's why we're enemies. Right?"

Elinor nodded.

"Well, then how come they've got Outcasts? Ah mean, they've got tae have at least a small sense of morality if they banish people from the islands."

"Ah'm not sure why they have Outcasts. Maybe those Vikin's were too weak tae stay with the rest. Now, please continue with the names of the Chiefs."

"But that doesnae make any sense, if he was too weak, why is Alvin named Alvin the Treacherous?"

"Merida, Ah said tae continue with the Chiefs' names!"

Merida was about to sheepishly explain that she couldn't remember any more when her father, Fergus, burst into the room.

"Elinor, Ah've got some good news!" he exclaimed. Then he noticed Elinor holding a book and Merida sitting across from her. "Oh, yore in the middle of teaching. It can wait."

"No, Dad, that's all right. Wot is it?" Merida interjected quickly. Elinor glanced at her sternly, knowing she was trying to get out of sitting and listening for the next two hours. She was just about to chide Merida when Fergus said:

"Well, coom down tae dinner an' Ah'll tell you about it. Dinner's the only time when those three rogues of mine will actually stay in one place for more than a minute."

"Is it that time already?" Elinor asked, surprised. "If Ah'da knoon that, Ah wouldn'ta let Merida eat all those biscuits."

††

_**5:45 PM.**_

While enjoying the roast venison and haggis, Fergus told all of them the news.

"So, Elinor, ye know me old friend Randulf of Corona? Well, Ah hadna heard from him for years till just his mornin'. Turns out, his lost daughter returned 'bout a year ago, a wee bonny lass named Rapunzel, and now she's gettin' married! And wot's better is, he wants us to attend it! The weddin' Ah mean! Can ye believe it? Us! After such a long time with no communication, he an' his wife want us to come to see his liddle girl get married."

"Yes, dear, that is good news! When will the trip be?"

"We'll be arrivin' the second of August. We'll have tae leave twelve days hence if'n we want tae get there on time."

"Well then, we'll certainly have tae start the preparations as soon as possible."

"Dad, d'ye know wot this Rapunzel is like?" asked Merida.

"Well, from wot Randulf says, she's got brown hair, shortest of any princess ever known—"

_Ooh, a rebel_, Merida thought. _I should probably like her then_.

"—and she seems to really like the color purple."

That dashed Merida's hopes of liking Rapunzel. Merida hated the color purple, mainly because it represented royalty, which she had never really wanted to be. It also just seemed like a sissy color to her.

_She either is proud of being royalty and wants everyone to know it, or she's a sissy who likes clothes and jewelry and who's afraid of everything. Or,_ she thought with a shudder, _both_.

The dinner no longer seemed delicious to her. The prospect of such a long trip (almost six days!) only to see a bratty princess get married (her poor husband) was very unappetizing.


	4. Ch 3: One Who Flies on a Great Reptile

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 3: One Who Flies on a Great Reptile**

_**Twelve days later. July 28, 1296 AD, 9:42 PM.**_

Hiccup Haddock had had it up to here with his cousin.

He stormed toward his house in the village on the Isle of Berk. _This time, Snotlout has gone too far_. Although technically it was Hiccup's fault he was in this mess. He never should have told Fishlegs his plan—his plan to propose to Astrid Hofferson. Fishlegs Ingerman never could keep a secret. Thankfully, he hadn't told Astrid. No, he had told all of the _other_ teenagers that he wanted to pop the question. The teenagers most likely to ruin it all.

He had a flashback to earlier that day when his secret had come out. He and his friends were in the Dragon Academy Training Ring, and Astrid hadn't arrived yet. Hiccup could tell Fishlegs was beside himself with excitement; Hiccup had only told him yesterday that he was going to ask for Astrid's hand in marriage.

The other teens were talking about normal stuff—Snotlout Jorgenson was telling everyone (not that they were listening) about his latest weapon, a steel-headed axe with a cedar-wood handle, which he had bought for only 2 chickens and some sheep's wool. The twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, were at it again, punching each other and butting heads.

Then it happened.

Fishlegs was actually shaking with anticipation for the moment. Finally he blurted out, "Guys! Hiccup's going to marry Astrid!"

None of the others were impressed. Ruffnut said, "Uh, I think even Tuffnut knew that."

"Hey!" protested an outraged Tuffnut.

"No, no! I mean Hiccup's going to propose any day now!"

Now everyone was paying attention. Snotlout grinned wickedly, grabbed Hiccup, and exclaimed, "Awww! Widdle Hiccup's finally gwowing up! He's gonna mawwy da girl of his dweams!" while ruffling Hiccup's hair.

"Quit it, Snotlout!" Hiccup said angrily, tearing away from him. He glared at Fishlegs.

"Um, Hiccup, don't you think there could be a problem with that?" Tuffnut asked.

"Such as…?"

"Well, I was gonna do that, for one thing…"

"No you weren't, stupid," Ruffnut shoved him. "She'd knock your lights out. But yeah, Hiccup, I can think of a few problems with that plan."

"Okay, like what?"

"First of all, you've only known her for like a year while I've known her since…." Tuffnut broke in. He started counting on his fingers. "Forever!"

"What are you talking about? I've known her ever since I can remember! Which is back to when we were three!"

"Yeah, but she didn't start liking you until last year," Tuffnut reminded him. "I think it's kinda dumb of her to consider you over me."

"Have you ever thought _why_ she might consider me, who 'she didn't start liking until last year,' over you, who she's known for almost thirteen years?"

"No," Tuffnut smiled smugly. Then he frowned. "Wait…did you want a yes or no on that one?"

Hiccup ignored him and said, "Okay, Ruffnut. Your turn to insult me."

"Okay, first of all, I wasn't gonna insult you. As for my reasons for thinking it's a bad idea, you're only sixteen."

"Yeah, well, Dad married my mom when he was eighteen. It's not that bad."

"Your dad had kind of already become a man, Hiccup," Fishlegs replied quietly. "He also was just about to become Chief. He had to have a wife at his side. Like Ruffnut said, you're only sixteen and you haven't become a man or anything. I know we tend to marry young in the Viking world, but sixteen… that's a little over the top, even for us."

"I have a question. _Who cares?_ Astrid and the rest of the village don't know this little piece of news yet, so that means I've got some blackmail material," Snotlout suddenly sneered.

"Wow, that's some blackmail material, Snotlout. You must have been a genius to figure it out," Hiccup spat sarcastically, his temper getting the better of him.

"Yeah," Snotlout got right up close to Hiccup, who was growing taller, but didn't have quite the height to match Snotlout's. He poked Hiccup's chest. "You know, dragon boy? I feel that I've never gotten the respect I deserve as the Chief's nephew. This just might be the perfect way to get it. If you treat me with the respect I'm worthy of, you'll find your secret safe with me. Treat me like just one of your other riffraff students, and I just might tell Astrid about the engagement ring you're going to forge for her. Get my drift?"

Hiccup smirked, a big mistake. "Yeah right. As if."

"Oops. Your first show of disrespect toward your cousin of high rank. I suppose I should uproot the weed before it gets bigger. You're in trouble now."

"Snotlout, just leave him alo—" Ruffnut began, but Snotlout was already running through the gates toward the village.

"Have a nice time proposing, Hiccup!" he laughed.

Fishlegs glanced at Hiccup nervously. "Sorry, H-Hiccup. I just couldn't help myself."

Hiccup began to run after Snotlout. "Apologies aren't going to stop Snotlout," he shouted. "I've got to stop him before he tells Astrid!"

By the time he had gotten to the village, it was too late. Snotlout had a big grin on his face. A really nasty, ugly one. "You're in trouble now," he repeated, then strutted away, laughing.

††

_**11:16 PM.**_

It was after supper, and he and his father, Stoick the Vast, were sitting before the fire in their house.

Hiccup had spoken to Astrid nervously, asking if Snotlout had told her anything weird that day. She had replied negatively. Hiccup was thanking Thor that Astrid wasn't the one Snotlout had talked to when his father spoke. "So, your cousin tells me that you plan on proposing to the young Miss Hofferson."

_Suffering scallops, he told Dad!_

Hiccup took a deep breath and answered, "He's right. I was going to do that at some point in the next month."

Stoick cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Don't you think you're a little…young for something this big?"

_I reeeaaally wish he'd told Astrid._

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Everyone says that, but we're Vikings, Dad! We marry young—you married Mom at eighteen! And we also tend to die earlier than other people—especially people like me. Skinny, not strong, can't throw an axe, can't thrust a sword." He sighed. "I want to have the opportunity to do something like this before…you know. I mean, you have to admit, I've had more near-death experiences than you had at my age. Heck, I even have an entire foot missing," he reminded Stoick, holding up his prosthetic.

Stoick nodded and rose. "I see what you mean. If you really want to go through with this, then we should talk to her parents very soon. And I'll need to arrange a meeting with the rest of the village."

Hiccup's head, which he had lowered toward the fire, shot up so quickly he got a crick in his neck. He had planned on asking Astrid's parents before popping the question, but…He rubbed his neck. "Th-the village?" he stammered, his stomach swooping.

"Yes, of course! You didn't think you could have a wedding without them knowing about it, did you?"

Hiccup jumped up from his seat. "No, but Dad, could I just think about this first, when Snotlout told you I hadn't really decided anything yet, and if I'm going to do this, I'd rather ask her first, Astrid I mean, before I ask the village, I mean tell—"

"Hiccup! Calm down, son. I'm afraid this can't wait. The tradition is to have the village know about the proposal before it happens—"

"But Dad, we've broken tradition before! We have _dragons_ now Dad, that had to have been the biggest tradition we've ever broken! Why can't we just break another one?"

Stoick put his hands on Hiccup's shoulders. "Hiccup, listen to me. I know how nervous you are about this. I felt the same way when my father had me propose to Valhallarama…the love of my life. But he knew that it was my duty, and he made me do it accordingly—"

"But—"

"Stop interrupting! We have to tell the rest of the village, and that's that." Stoick turned and opened the door.

"For once in your life, will you please just listen to me!"

Stoick froze. He remembered those very words, yelled at him just before he had said some angry, hurtful words to his only son for befriending dragons, just over a year before. He turned to look at Hiccup, and saw desperation in his wide eyes. Hiccup really didn't want him to do this.

That only made Stoick resolve to go on with tradition.

"I am listening, Hiccup, and it makes me think that you need to, for lack of a better phrase, 'get some backbone.' You were brave when you rescued us from the Red Death, so you can be brave here."

The last thing Stoick saw as he went out the door was his son's shocked and pleading face, much like the one he had had when Stoick had disowned him.

††

_**11:24 PM.**_

That did it. Hiccup was officially done with Viking life. Well, almost.

Except for Toothless, his Night Fury dragon, and Astrid of course, Hiccup would have renounced his life as a Viking and run away for the rest of his life. He hated the stupid traditions, he hated the fact that none of his friends could keep secrets, and he really hated how his father always thought he knew best.

Hadn't Hiccup shown Stoick that the old way is not necessarily the best way? Had he not shown him that the Chief could sometimes be wrong? It seemed that no matter how many times Hiccup could teach his father something, he could never get it through his thick head. "I'm the Chief, I'm always right. If I were wrong, everyone else would be dead." Was that his father's attitude about everything?

As soon as his father left, Hiccup knew it was useless to go after him; they would only argue more. Instead, he rushed to his room, grabbed his satchel, and rushed back downstairs to grab a few flasks of water and some food, thinking that his father couldn't possibly arrange a meeting with the village about his son if his son wasn't there, could he?

Hiccup would not go so far as to run away forever; his father was not the _oh darling son, I was so worried about you_ type of person, more like the _if you ever run away again, I swear to Asgard I will send a wild Deadly Nadder after you and you will regret it_ type. As it was, he was already pushing it by running away for a short time. Although he wouldn't put it that way—he would say that he was "going somewhere quiet to think." For maybe a week. Or two. Or possibly three.

He was now saddling up Toothless for a long ride. "Sorry to go riding so late, bud, but we have a problem. I'll tell you about it on the way."

Toothless hummed in reply.

††

_**11:41 PM.**_

It was nearly midnight and Toothless and Hiccup were flying as fast as they could to get away from Berk, while Hiccup finished telling Toothless his situation.

They were a fifteen minutes' ride out when Hiccup spotted Outcast Island—he knew quite well what it looked like, having been imprisoned there before—and urged Toothless up into the clouds so they wouldn't attract attention. He kept a close eye on the rocky shoreline; he didn't see anyone, but something unnerved him nonetheless. When they were finally out of range, he breathed a sigh of relief, glad that no one had seen them.

Or so he thought.

Alvin the Treacherous was watching them from the supposedly deserted shoreline. He just barely saw the black shape flit into the clouds, going west, toward what were, according to most other Viking tribes, uncharted waters, seas that never ended.

Or so _they_ thought.

Alvin had been smart and sent his best Outcast sailors slightly to the southwest to see what was there. The fleet he had sent had been nearly destroyed; it turned out that in that direction were the Scots. He then had sent another fleet to the far southwest, and when they had returned, he had gotten a good report: there was a kingdom that went by the name of Corona. It was small, but not small enough to be conquered. It had taken them eight days to get there by ship.

Alvin knew that the direction Hiccup and his Night Fury had taken was the same direction that he had sent the fleet, and the same direction the fleet had returned from.

He also knew that at the boy and the Night Fury's rate, it would probably only take four days to get to Corona as opposed to the eight days it had taken the fleet to get there. He knew that if he wanted to capture the boy at Corona, he would have to start out immediately.

"Ready the ships!" he shouted to his people. "We sail to the kingdom of Corona! We will capture Stoick's boy, and he will train our dragons! Then, he will be ours to do with what we want!"

A ragged cheer arose from the entire island. Alvin smiled evilly. This time, Stoick's little runt wouldn't get away.


	5. Ch 4: One Whose Ice was Once Worthwhile

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 4: One Whose Ice was Once Worthwhile**

_**Earlier that day. July 28, 1296 AD, 3:04 PM. **_

"Wooooooohooooooooooo!"

Jack Frost was flying through the frigid air at about ninety miles per hour, causing a blizzard around what is now Norway. He never tired of this. Even though North had told him several times not to cause snow in the summer, the Guardian of Fun couldn't help himself. It was fun to cause snow when people least expected it, and it would be fun for little children to play in it. I t was Jack's job to bring fun to the children.

"Yeah! Let it snow, baby!" he shouted with glee as he sped toward the Viking lands and the kingdom of Corona.

††

Meanwhile, the rest of the Guardians were at the North Pole.

"Umm, Boss, I'm getting a snow reading in the Scandinavia area," called an elf to North. "We sent some elves to pick up a sample, in fact, they just got back."

North, or Santa Claus if you wanted to be technical about it, was confused. "Snow in Scandinavia? In the summer months? That doesn't make any sense…"

"It does if you know Jack Frost, North," E. Aster Bunnymund, the Easter Bunny, replied. "He's at it again, I'm sure of it."

"Oh, Bunny, let's not jump to conclusions," admonished the ever-beautiful Tooth Fairy, who really liked Jack. "Regular snow not caused by him still happens, you know."

"Not in the summer, it doesn't, Tooth," Bunny argued. He picked up a single snowflake from the samples that had been brought back, and put it under a magical magnifying glass. "This has Jack Frost written all over it."

"Bunny, you're just prejudiced. Can't you ever get over that Easter blizzard?"

"No, seriously. This has Jack Frost written all over it. See?" he said, showing her the snowflake. It began to melt quickly, but before it turned into a water droplet, Tooth saw the tiny words written all over it: _Jack Frost_.

"Gets more egotistical every year, doesn't he?" Bunny rolled his eyes.

"Bunny! He's probably just fooling around, you know he only pretends to be arrogant. You really need to let it go."

"No, what we need to do is stop Jack," North interjected. "He can't be allowed to change the weather like this. I don't know why he can't just make it snow in the normal months. He always has to go mess up the seasons."

††

Jack arrived at the North Pole at a summons from the Guardians. He came in style, blowing in by wind with snow swirling around him.

"Hey, guys! What's up this time around?" he smiled.

Then he noticed no one else was smiling.

"It's about snow in summer, isn't it?" he asked flatly.

North came forward. "Jack, how many times have we warned you not to cause snow where it shouldn't be?"

It was a rhetorical question, but Jack chose to answer it anyway. "Let's see…maybe…eight times?"

North frowned. "Jack, it's summer in Scandinavia. It is not supposed to snow in summer. You can't go around making it snow where it shouldn't be. It isn't natural, it confuses the humans, and it messes up many things for them."

"I'm just having fun, North! I'm the Guardian of Fun! I'm supposed to make this world fun for kids, and they're having fun because of the snow. And you let me do it last year," Jack pointed out.

"Maybe they're having fun now. Or maybe they're confused and scared that whatever deities they believe in are angry at them. And maybe people had plans for today. Maybe a small village was planning to have some outdoor games or a picnic, but they can't do it now that there's a blizzard. Maybe a man needed to hunt for meat for his family, but he can't since there's too much snow.

"And what about their happiness later? The Vikings for example. They have a hard enough time growing food, keeping livestock, and keeping their families sheltered without the dragons attacking them. Now that there's been a completely unexpected snowfall, lots of their crops will die, crops they need for the actual winter season, and they will not be able to harvest the newly planted ones on time. The children will go hungry. Does that sound fun to you?"

Jack hung his head. He had to admit, he hadn't thought about what might happen after his snowstorm.

"And as for last year, Jack, you know the only reason you made snow and ice was because Pitch Black was destroying the belief of children. Your ice was able to stop him, if only for a little while."

Jack had already realized that his argument was invalid, but he let North finish his lecture. He felt a little abashed—not much, but enough to want to apologize.

"I'm sorry, North, really I am."

"I can tell that you are, Jack. However, that isn't enough. You need to go and reverse all the snow in the lands that don't need it yet."

Jack gaped. "How do I do that? I've never done it before—not since I became who I am!"

"You use this." North produced a green glass ball from one of the shelves that lined his office. "It's a Summer Ball. It will quickly melt all snow in the immediate area around you. You don't have to worry about it harming you, it only works on snow," he added as Jack opened his mouth to argue. "And you can turn it off when you don't need it, "he said, showing Jack the small button on the side.

"Now, in which places did you make it snow?"

"Scandinavia…well, mostly the Barbaric Archipelago. Scotland, Corona, and the seas in between, Iceland, England, and Ireland."

"All of which are in the months of summer. Well, Jack, that's quite a few places. If you want to finish by tomorrow, you'll need to start now."

Jack sighed and took the Summer Ball. "Okay, North. I'll be sure to get it done."

North smiled kindly at Jack. "We're not angry at you, Jack—"

Bunny snorted. "I wouldn't say that, North."

North glared at him. "Just…please, try not to let it happen again."

Jack drew himself up to his full height. "Don't worry, North. It won't."

††

Soon after Jack left, the Guardians began to talk again.

"So…you doing anything tonight?" Tooth asked Bunny.

He gave her a sideways glance. "You sound like you're about to ask me out."

Tooth wrinkled her nose. "Do you really think I'd go out with a big fuzzy rabbit?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm a _bunny_. And do you have a problem with six-foot-four, handsome, muscled, boomerang-slinging bunnies?"

"No. I have a problem with a bunny who thinks a lot of himself. And just after saying that a certain boy in a blue sweatshirt was self-absorbed."

Bunny grinned. "_I _was kidding. The only time Jack isn't kidding is when he's talking about himself."

"All right, you two. Let's not start a fight. We still have to wait for Sandy to get back," North interrupted.

Just then, a tiny little man in a very sandy robe flew into the window.

"Oh, no! I forgot to open the window again!" cried North.

He opened it and brought in a very angry looking Sanderson Mansnoozie. Sand flew about him as he was set on the ground. He glared at North and smiled at Tooth, for whom he had a soft spot.

"Hi, Sandy! How were the kids last night?"

Sandy frowned, then used his sands to create an image of children playing in softly falling snow, then nearly being smothered by a fierce blizzard.

"Oh, dear! Was anyone hurt?"

Sandy cleared the image and shook his head.

"Oh, that's good. You really had me worried there."

Sandy inquired how there came to be snow in summer, then erased the question as he remembered who had become a Guardian just over a year ago.

"Don't worry, Sandy," North advised. "Jack is cleaning it up with my Summer Ball. Now we have to discuss some important matters—teenagers."

"Ah, don't even get me started on them," Bunny groaned. "They're always telling kids I don't exist."

"That's why we need to talk about them—we have to figure out some way to get them to believe in us. That way they won't dash the hopes of other children, and cause them to disbelieve."

They gathered in the room where Manny, or the Man in the Moon, would speak to them sometimes.

"Alright everyone, let's get started—"

Just then, a light filled the room.

Tooth gasped. "Manny is telling us something!"

An unearthly voice filled the heavens, a deep voice, shaking the ground. Tooth thought that people in China could have heard the sound.

"The Black One shall ascend again

And three others shall help him win.

One a witch, to start a war,

One an outlaw, from the Viking shore,

One a bear, made man once more.

"It would do them good to be wise,

For four against them all shall rise.

One whose gold hair does beguile,

One who with a bow is agile,

One who flies on a great reptile,

One whose ice was once worthwhile.

"And so the evil one they shall cease,

Or else the earth shall never see peace.

And despite their efforts, by fire blasting,

One shall pass into life everlasting."

The voice faded into the sky, and the light was no more.

The Guardians stood motionless, too shocked to do anything.

It was the first time ever that Manny had spoken to them with words.

And it was the first time ever that none of them understood.


	6. Ch 5: A Very Frosty Flower

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 5: A Very Frosty Flower**

_**July 28, 1296 AD, 4:35 PM.**_

Rapunzel was bored.

She had seen the unexpected snowfall in July and had wanted to investigate, but her parents hadn't let her. "This could be witchcraft, dear," they had said. "We don't want to lose you again."

At first they didn't even let her open a window to see it. But Rapunzel begged and begged, and finally Randulf relented. "She is nineteen in a week, Lucia. She is a young woman, and needs to start finding her own path, without us helping her as much."

As a compromise, Rapunzel only went on her bedroom balcony. But since there was nothing to do, she became fatigued. She now stared blankly at the frost encrusted over the village houses, like a painting.

Eventually, she fell asleep.

††

Jack was bored.

He was tired of flying around melting his own snow. Thank goodness he was almost done; now all he had to do was get rid of the snow in Corona, and he was free.

He flew now over the village. He almost laughed at the faces of the townspeople as they saw how quickly the snow melted. That was one thing North had forgotten. He should have had Jack do the job at night, when everyone would be asleep.

He glided toward the castle, then stopped and turned off the Summer Ball. The castle looked beautiful without snow, but the ice sticking to it now made it look incredible. He didn't want to ruin such an exquisite view. But he had to.

Well, he would wait until he got right up to it. That way he could look at it as long as possible. He stopped near a balcony, one that must belong to a bedroom. He lifted the Ball, ready to push the button.

Then he saw the girl.

She wore a purple dress and no shoes. She had the biggest green eyes and shortest brown hair he had ever seen on a woman.

She was gorgeous.

He wondered if she could see him. He landed on her balcony rail. She didn't move. Apparently not.

Then he realized she was asleep. Maybe if he woke her…He nudged her with his staff.

She jolted upright and looked around. And didn't see him.

"That's funny…I swear someone just touched me," she said to herself.

_Someone did_, thought Jack. _Me_.

The girl settled back down and immediately sat up as she realized that all the snow and frost was gone. She squinted around. "Wasn't there snow out here just a few minutes ago?" she mused aloud.

_Yes, there was_, Jack replied in his mind. _I just had to melt all of it_.

"I must have dreamed about all the snow," the girl decided. "Kind of weird, dreaming about snow in the summer…"

She stood and stretched. She turned to go back inside.

And Jack decided then and there to take a chance.

††

Rapunzel wasn't sure what to think.

_Maybe I dreamed it_, she thought. _But I remember that conversation between my parents and me almost exactly. Dreams aren't usually that vivid_.

She was about to write it off as stress hallucinations when she heard a small pitter-pat behind her, like something had just landed on the railing. She turned and saw no one. Then she heard a tap, as if someone had dropped a large stick to the ground. And then she saw the frost reaching hungrily for her feet.

††

The girl screamed and raced inside.

"No!" Jack yelled aloud, forgetting she couldn't hear him. He hadn't wanted to scare her! "Wait!"

Fortunately for Jack, the girl was still watching the frost form behind the safety of glass doors. Jack stopped the frost from climbing onto the castle and waited to see what the girl would do.

Nothing, apparently.

††

Rapunzel was scared.

She was debating whether or not to scream for guards or her parents. But what could they do against strange weather phenomenon? Nothing, that's what. She chose to stay and see what would happen, if anything.

Something did happen.

Words formed in the ice coating the balcony. Rapunzel gasped.

_My name is Jack Frost._

"Jack Frost? But he doesn't exist!" Rapunzel exclaimed, opening the doors without a second thought.

The words cleared, and one single phrase appeared in the ice.

_Do you believe in me?_

She looked down at the words, then up at the invisible thing that must have been writing them. She wasn't sure whether to respond or not. _Witchcraft,_ she thought. But the tiniest voice inside her heart said otherwise. This didn't feel like witchcraft. It was definitely magic, but it wasn't witchcraft.

This decided it. With all her heart, Rapunzel spoke the words that would change her life.

"I do believe in you."

††

"Yes!"

Jack saw the girl start. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Can you see me?" he asked her.

She nodded slowly, unable to speak.

"I'm Jack Frost. What's your name?" he asked, holding out his hand.

The girl gradually shook his hand. "My name is Rapunzel. I'm the princess of the kingdom of Corona."

"Well, I'm the Guardian of Fun and I bring snow pretty much everywhere," Jack replied.

Rapunzel raised an eyebrow. "Even snow from the clouds?"

"No, not that snow. That's regular snow. I bring my own snow. It comes from my staff," he said, showing her his staff.

Rapunzel's face lit up. "You brought the snow here!"

Jack smiled. "Yes, I did."

Then she frowned. "You ruined the village dance we were going to have earlier."

Jack cringed. "Yeah, I know. North sent me to clean it up with this." He held out the Summer Ball.

"What is that, and who or what is North?"

"North is Santa Claus—"

"Santa Claus? He's real?"

"Yes! So is the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman…and the Boogeyman."

"The Boogeyman? He's…Who is the Boogeyman?"

That was how they spent the next hour: Jack told Rapunzel all about the Guardians, and about the very first rise of Pitch Black.

"So, I've told you a lot about me. What about you?"

"Well, my nineteenth birthday is in about a week and I'm getting married a few days after."

"Cool! Care to have an extra guest?" he joked.

To his surprise, Rapunzel laughed. "Of course not! Nobody will be able to see you, so—"

She must have seen Jack's face, because she looked horrified at what she'd just said. "Oh no, Jack, I didn't mean it that way, I just meant that…I don't know what I meant."

Then she brightened. "Hey, you want me to go get Eugene?"

"Who's Eugene?"

"My fiancé, silly…Oh, I never told you his name, did I? Oh well, I'll just go get him right now."

"But he probably won't be able to see me…"

"He will when I'm done with him, believe me."

††

Rapunzel was so excited.

A secret friend! A friend only she (and others who believed in him) could see! She couldn't wait to tell Eugene.

"Eugene! Eugene!" She ran though the castle, calling his name. not paying attention to where she was going, she slammed straight into her mother, knocking them both to the floor.

"Rapunzel! What is the meaning of this?" she inquired indignantly as she was helped to her feet by Rapunzel and the Head Maid, Cynthia.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I need to find Eugene!" Rapunzel called as she ran toward the kitchens.

"Then at the very least, please don't run around like a hoodlum!" Rapunzel barely heard her as she raced around the corner into the kitchens.

Of course Eugene was there, stealing bits of food from right under the servants' noses, just like he used to. Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Eugene! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"And now you've found me," Eugene replied thickly, a blueberry scone filling his mouth.

"I need you to come to my room."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait," he replied, swallowing.

Just then, the Head Cook, Milo, shook a heavy ladle at Eugene. "Fitzherbert! You been stealin' from my kitchens agin, aintcha? Well, lemme tell ya somethin'—ya ain't the prince yet!" he shouted, running at Eugene.

Eugene grabbed one more lemon poppyseed muffin. "On second thought, that sounds like a great idea, Punzie! Let's go!"

"Don't call me Punzie or I'll leave you to be punished by Milo!"

They got to Rapunzel's room quickly. "Okay, Rapunzel. What is it you want me to do?"

"I want you to meet Jack Frost."

Eugene stared. "Uh, Rapunzel…I hate to break it to you, but Jack Frost doesn't exist. You must be under a lot of stress. Let's go downstairs; it's almost dinnertime."

"No, Eugene, I swear, it's him! I didn't believe it at first either, but then when I said I believed in him, he was really there! And I told him about you, and said I'd get you to meet him!"

Since Rapunzel seemed so adamant in wanting Eugene to meet her imaginary best friend, he decided to play along. "Okay, so where is he?"

"He's right outside on the balcony. He can fly, that's how he got up there. He's the one who caused that freak blizzard today!"

She opened the glass doors. "Okay, Jack, show Eugene you exist!"

Eugene stood smiling, waiting for nothing to happen.

But something happened.

Ice crystals formed in the air: _Hello Eugene. Believe in me now?_

Rapunzel almost laughed aloud at Eugene's face; it looked exactly like the one he'd had when he found out her former hair had healing powers.

"Do you see him, Eugene?" she asked teasingly.

He nodded ever so slowly.

Jack was smirking at Eugene's gaping face. "So, Eugene," he asked coyly. "When's the honeymoon?"


	7. Ch 6: Night in the Day

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 6: Night in the Day**

_**August 2, 1296, 10:13 AM.**_

Hiccup and Toothless arrived at Corona very tired, very wet, and very cold.

They had run through a freak snowstorm that had lasted for hours. They didn't exactly understand why there had been such a storm in summer (Unbeknownst to them, Jack Frost had forgotten the snowstorm over the seas between the Barbaric Archipelago, and subsequently forgotten to go back and melt it with the Summer Ball.). All they knew was that about ten miles off the coast of Corona it had stopped very suddenly.

Hiccup had surmised, having seen some of Alvin the Treacherous's maps and notes the last time he had been kidnapped, that it would take about four days on dragonback to get to an island (the name had been covered). It had taken them slightly longer because of the fierce winds in the storm. He had been blown off course several times, but fortunately Toothless was always able to find his way back.

Having fallen in the ocean from exhaustion shortly before, they climbed onto the sand dunes near a long bridge that connected the unknown island to the mainland. Hiccup looked up at the large castle just beyond a village. A village! Maybe he could find a place to eat and spend the night. Hiccup broke out his bag of Viking coins and smiled. He had plenty of money to pay with.

Then he facepalmed.

What was he thinking, bringing Viking coins on a journey to foreign lands? This place could be unfriendly to Vikings—it could even be a Scottish territory! Bringing Viking money to Scotland or Scottish territories was tantamount to saying, "Here, please stick my head on a pike and burn my body to ashes."

Looking at himself, Hiccup figured he didn't even have to show the money to be marked as an enemy. His clothing was proof enough of what he was. If this place was a Scottish territory, he would be dead the second he put one toe into the village.

And, oh yeah, he had a dragon with him too. A Night Fury, no less. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, one of the most mysterious and dangerous creatures on the face of the earth, with the most destructive fire of the smaller dragons (as in, any dragon smaller than the Red Death). Toothless wouldn't win him any points in this place either.

So he had two choices: go into the village anyway, with a Night Fury trailing behind him (because he certainly wasn't going to leave Toothless behind), praying to Odin that nobody saw him for what he was, or leave the island and find another one, preferably a deserted one.

Hiccup looked at Toothless and knew the latter idea was a no-go. Toothless was so tired, he hadn't even moved from his position halfway in the ocean. He lay panting in the seawater.

"Okay, so it looks like we'll have to…" Hiccup looked around and saw dense forest in the mainland across from the island. "…go to that forest there!" he finished. He glanced at Toothless. "Think you'll be able to get there flying, bud? I know we could just take that bridge, but somebody's bound to see us if we do."

Toothless looked at Hiccup, then rose slowly and pushed his face into Hiccup's chest, telling him that he trusted him.

"Right, then. You ready?"

Toothless stood next to Hiccup in answer, waiting for him to climb on. He did so, and Toothless flew, low over the water, to the forest beyond the island.

††

_**11:24 PM.**_

"When are we goin' tae get off this ship, Dad?"

"Soon, Ah expect, Merida," replied Fergus. "Tha' blizzard was quite a surprise one. We shoulda been at Corona this mornin', but for all tha' wind…"

"Hamish, Hubert, Harris! Where are ye? Ah told ye to stay below, ye rogues!" Elinor scolded sternly. She ushered them down to the cabins, then came back up to speak with Merida. "Now Merida, don't complain. We should be there by tonight if'n we're fortunate."

"Raght. If'n we don't die of seasickness first, ye mean," Merida replied under her breath.

"Yore Majesty, sir! Odo says he can see land ahead!" shouted a scout at the head of the ship.

"How far off?"

"About seven or eight hours hours, sir!" cried Odo.

"Excellent. See, Merida? We'll be there soon," Fergus beamed at his daughter.

"Raght. Because seven or eight hours ain't a very long time," Merida sighed.

††

_**12:09 PM.**_

Hiccup and Toothless finally made it to the opposite shore.

It had taken almost two hours, and yes, they had taken a few swims, but they made it there in one piece.

Hiccup remembered the whole flight, which was only about a mile and a half long.

It had been very hard on Toothless indeed; he had barely eaten or drank anything since they had left Berk. He could hardly find the strength to beat his wings or pump his legs to stay afloat when he fell. It was hard on Hiccup too; he hadn't slept for days, and he had hardly eaten or drank anything during that time either. His left leg was terribly sore from adjusting Toothless's tailfin so much. When they fell into the bay, it was very difficult for Hiccup to swim, partly because his prosthetic wasn't made for swimming, and partly because he was so utterly exhausted.

Hiccup hadn't ever thought he'd have one flight he didn't enjoy, let alone two in a single week. Now he supposed that he had been foolish not to.

Toothless had collapsed completely barely thirty feet from the wooded shore. It probably wouldn't have seemed like much to a healthy, well-rested, well-fed dragon and rider, but Hiccup knew that if they had fallen ten more feet away from the shore, they wouldn't have made it.

Hiccup was forced to drag Toothless the rest of the way, only Toothless's wings keeping them afloat. When Hiccup's feet had finally hit bottom, Toothless gathered the rest of his might and towed Hiccup, who was almost unconscious, onto the dry sand.

They now lay on the sandy shore, chests heaving, mouths wide open, gasping for breath, under the hot August sun. Eventually, both boy and dragon passed out.

††

_**6:49 PM.**_

"We're finally here!" cheered Merida.

Even Elinor couldn't resist agreeing with her daughter. "Ah have tae admit, this ship is much more cramped than it looks tae be."

The Scots poured out of the ship in droves. The royal family was surrounded by their guards, ahead of them and behind them and beside them. They marched toward the village gates.

When they came to the castle, which they had been told was called Sungrace, they stopped and waited as the villagers gathered around them. The great wide doors to Sungrace opened and two men, a woman, and a girl walked into the sunlight. Merida immediately knew that the older man and woman must be King Randulf and Queen Lucia, and recognized the short brown hair of Rapunzel. She figured that the other man must be Rapunzel's soon-to-be husband.

Rapunzel was wearing a diamond tiara and no shoes, which Merida thought was a bit strange. Then she noticed the lizard sitting on her shoulder, and she began to think that Rapunzel was downright weird.

She didn't have time to notice anything more about her, because the king of Corona stepped forward with arms open wide. "Fergus, my old friend!"

"Randulf, ol' boy! 'Tis good tae see ye agin!" exclaimed Fergus as he embraced Randulf, tearing up a little as he recalled good memories with his friend. They stepped apart and began introducing their families.

"Fergus, I would like you to meet my good wife, Lucia, and my lovely daughter, Rapunzel."

"Ah, Rapunzel! Ah've heard a lot aboot ye, m'dear!" said Fergus warmly as he shook Rapunzel's hand. "An' this young master must be the fiancé! Flynn Rider, innit?"

Eugene coughed politely. "I've changed back to my true name, good sir. Eugene Fitzherbert."

"Well, then! 'Tis good tae meet ye, Eugene! Ah suppose Ah should introduce me own wee family. This is mah wonderful wife, Elinor, and me eldest, Merida. These three rogues take after me own heart, Hamish, Hubert, and Harris. Quite mischievous, Ah'm afraid. Gotta watch 'em every second, or they'll steal all the food in this bonny castle…"

Merida noticed Eugene stifle some laughter, and wondered why.

"Merida," Randulf spoke to her, "You will be sleeping in the guest room next to Rapunzel's. Rapunzel, will you lead her there?"

"Of course, Dad," Rapunzel responded. She smiled so sweetly at Merida that Merida knew right then and there it was going to be hard to not like this princess. "Come on, I'll show you around."

In a few minutes Rapunzel had shown Merida her room, and then invited her to talk in her room.

††

Rapunzel was eager to have someone like her to talk to for a change.

Merida didn't seem so excited, but maybe it was just the stress of having come on a long voyage to come see someone she'd never even met get married. In fact, maybe Rapunzel shouldn't have invited Merida to talk with her. Maybe she should have let her rest.

When they sat down on Rapunzel's bed, Rapunzel suddenly thought, _This is someone I can trust. I feel it._ She had an impulsive desire to tell her something.

"Would you like to meet my secret friend? He's really cool. He can fly and make it snow."

††

Merida could not believe her ears.

_Great, she's a lunatic. She thinks she's got a friend with magical powers who can fly and make the weather wonky. Although,_ she thought with a silent laugh, _it would explain that odd blizzard we had most of the way here._

"He's stayed ever since I met him a few days ago. He flies around Sungrace, you know, checking things out. He sleeps in the corner at night, even though he doesn't really need to sleep," Rapunzel chattered. "Let's go out on the balcony. I'll call him. He always hears me."

"Okay, sure," Merida responded carefully.

They stepped outside. "Jack," Rapunzel called. "Someone wants to meet you."

_A person who can fly and make it snow?_ thought Merida. _Holy haggis! She thinks Jack Frost is her friend!_

"Go ahead, Jack. Show Merida you exist."

Merida could only watch in awe as ice chips appeared on the floor and created words. _Hello Merida. My name is Jack Frost. Can you see me?_

Rapunzel watched her new friend to see what she would say.

Merida only stared at the charming, handsome, white-haired boy in front of her eyes. _He's real._ Her heart beat fast and her stomach felt like it was doing somersaults.

That was how Merida knew that for the first time in her life, she was in love.

††

_**7:28 PM.**_

Hiccup awoke to the sound of Toothless snuffling around his face.

"Aaah!" Hiccup yelled, startled by the big black _thing_ right in front of his nose. "Oh, it's just you, Toothless. Whew, don't scare me like that, bud."

Hiccup tried to sit up. And failed. His body was so sore from the fight to live and so stiff from lying still for hours that the pain was too much for him when he tried to move. "Ouch," he moaned.

Toothless sniffed at a cut under Hiccup's chin and began to lick it.

"Eew, bud, don't tell me you're so hungry you've resorted to eating _me_," Hiccup scolded. The cut stung, and Hiccup felt the edge of his collar get soaked. Toothless looked at him reproachfully. "Oh, sorry, Toothless. I forgot. Night Fury saliva and its amazing healing qualities…"

Toothless continued to lick until Hiccup pushed him away and he managed to sit up, and then stand. "Come on, Toothless. It's high time we find something to eat and somewhere to sleep."

He began to walk into the woods with difficulty. After about twenty minutes of searching, Hiccup came across some wild mushrooms and showed them to Toothless for inspection. "These okay to eat, bud?" he asked.

Toothless smelled and wrinkled his nose. Hiccup then knew they were alright to eat; Toothless only wrinkled his nose because he didn't like to eat plants. He would have hissed if they were poisonous.

Hiccup collected some more of the fungus. He didn't relish the thought of eating the mushrooms raw, but he was ravenous for something to fill his empty stomach. He was about to bite into one when Toothless spit blue fire into a pile of sticks he had collected with his feet. _Duh_. Toothless was a dragon. Dragons breathe fire. And since when did someone have to eat something raw when he had a dragon by his side?

Hiccup impaled a mushroom on a stick and held it over the fire. After five minutes, when the mushroom was golden brown, he pulled it off and bit into it. It was a little on the sweet side, with a slightly bitter taste. Not bad, overall. He ate three of them, searched for and found a few more, then gathered them up and took inventory of his supplies.

He had a bag of Viking coins and one single satchel with a flask of water in it, the other two satchels of food having blown away in the storm. He had his clothing and Toothless's saddle and riding gear, which thankfully hadn't been too badly damaged in the storm. He also had twelve mushrooms. And that was it.

He fit about half the mushrooms into the satchel, then decided to put the rest somewhere he could remember. That hollow oak would do. It was a little strange that the wooden bottom had a picture of a duckling on it, but whatever. That would just help him recall where he'd hidden them.

He dusted off his hands and looked around for Toothless, who had disappeared. "Tooth—" he began to call, then stopped himself. Someone else could be out there. Maybe it wasn't wise to be loud. "Toothless," Hiccup whispered. "Where are y—Gaaah!"

Toothless had appeared out of nowhere—well, almost out of nowhere. He had appeared from within a rock!

"Gods, Toothless! That's the second time you've scared me like that today!" he scolded the dragon. "Where did you come from?"

He went to the rock face and studied it. It was covered with ivy and vines. On a sudden hunch, Hiccup pulled the vines back and saw a cave! Or was it a tunnel?

Toothless jumped in front of Hiccup excitedly, so much so that he hit him in the face. "Ouch, Toothless! Would you just—oh gosh, what's with the fish breath?"

_Fish breath. Toothless must have found a pond._

Hiccup's eyes widened. "Okay, bud! Show me the water!"

Toothless danced around eagerly and led him through the tunnel to a hidden valley. In the nighttime it looked quite peaceful. The grass was very green and the lake in the back was so clear you could see straight down to the bottom, which was only twenty feet deep. But Hiccup wasn't looking at the scenery.

He was looking at the worn tower in the middle of the valley.

He walked closer, right up to the tower, and saw no door to the inside, which he thought was odd. Then he noticed a window at the very top of the tower, and some sort of hole in the side of the tower at the bottom. Hoping that he wouldn't have to ask Toothless to fly him up to the window, Hiccup investigated the hole and found a very damaged looking stairway. He put a foot on a step tentatively and found that it did not disintegrate under his weight, little though that was.

He turned back to Toothless and knew right away that the dragon wouldn't fit up the stairway. "I'm going to explore up here, okay, bud? You'll have to stay here, I don't think it's big enough for you. Don't worry, I'll be careful," he added as Toothless nuzzled him. "I'll let you know if I need help."

Hiccup hiked up the stairs quickly and hit his head on the ceiling. _Great. Stairs that go nowhere. Now what?_ Then he noticed cracks of faint light in the wood above his head. He pushed, and a large trap door opened. He entered a large room.

Hiccup noticed many things about the tower room. The paintings that covered the walls and ceiling. The dress-maker's dummies (although he didn't know that was what they were called) with clothes in colors he had never seen before. Three books on a shelf. Prettily painted dishes on the shelf below that. Jars of paintbrushes. Beautiful things.

Then he saw some not so beautiful things. A long knife, the blade covered in dried blood. A large mirror, shattered by a blunt force.

The next thing he set eyes on made him gasp in horror.

Nearly seventy feet of brown hair almost enveloped the floor. Brown hair that ended near the shattered mirror.

Hiccup stepped back and heard a crunching noise. He looked behind him and saw more hair, hair he couldn't find the end of.

_What kind of monster has hair this long?_ his terrified mind thought. _And is it still here?_

With this frightening thought, he backed unknowingly toward the window. He felt a sharp ledge on the small of his back, and he began to fall. He looked down at the ground, such a long ways away, and caught sight of a black cloak on the ground.

Someone else had fallen to their death here! There was no body lying about, so it must have been…

Hiccup yelled. Toothless heard. He stopped looking for more fish, ran to the edge of the tower and launched himself up with all his strength, catching Hiccup in the saddle and saving him.

For a while, all Hiccup could do was clutch Toothless and shiver violently. Then he began to feel silly.

"No monster could fit in there," he said aloud. "I was just letting my imagination run away with me." He looked at Toothless. "I think I'll go back up, now that I'm used to the sights," he joked. Toothless glanced at him, and then flipped Hiccup onto the ground and on his back. "Hey, what the—" The dragon proceeded to plant one foot firmly on Hiccup's torso.

Hiccup then realized what Toothless was doing—keeping Hiccup safe by preventing him from going back up. "Aw, bud, I'll be fine. Nothing actually happened up there, it was really dark and I just…_freaked_," he soothed him, latching his hands around Toothless's claws and trying to lift the large foot off his chest. "It looks like someone used to live there, there might be a bed. I'll just sleep there for the night."

Toothless finally relented and lifted his foot.

Hiccup made his way back up and realized that indeed there was a bed in the tower. He had to climb another set of stairs to reach it. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. Hiccup sat down upon it, and was quite surprised when it bounced underneath him. The bed was nothing like the ones at home. _I could get used to this,_ he thought with a smile.

He went back down to the window, avoiding the hair, which he had decided looked more like human hair than any other kind of hair. He called to Toothless, "I did find a bed, bud, a big, soft one. I'm going to crash there for the night. Why don't you sleep in the tunnel?"

Toothless looked distinctly disgruntled at the thought of sleeping so far away from Hiccup, but he was so tired that he didn't argue. He hummed a good-night to Hiccup and disappeared into the vine-covered tunnel entrance.

Hiccup smiled briefly and climbed up the stairs into the bed. It was so soft and fit the contours of his small body so well that he soon fell into a deep sleep.


	8. Ch 7: Fire and Ice

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 7: Fire and Ice**

_**August 3, 1296, 9:03 AM.**_

Jack woke up after everyone else.

He didn't understand why Rapunzel hadn't woken him; the brunette princess had done so ever since he had decided to stay at Sungrace. He felt a pang of guilt at the thought of having stayed so long—a whole week! The Guardians were probably worried sick. But Jack couldn't help it. Corona was just so, well, fun. Jack laughed uneasily at the irony: Jack Frost, having fun in the Sun Kingdom.

He flew down to the dining hall, where he saw Merida and Rapunzel whispering to each other at the table while eating bowls of fruit. They both gave him teeny waves when they noticed him. Eugene, who was also at the table, winked at Jack while smoothly stealing another sesame seed muffin from a passing servant. Rapunzel glared at him, then burst into giggles. Even Merida had trouble stifling a snort.

Elinor glanced at Merida sternly as she stirred her cinnamon oatmeal, wondering what on earth her daughter's unseemly laughter was about. Jack observed this and decided to have a bit of fun with the cantankerous old queen.

A large pot of apple butter had just been set on the table. Without the detection of either of the kings, queens, or servants, Jack lifted the ladle, full of the butter, and flew almost lazily to a spot over Elinor's head. He held the ladle over her, threatening to pour the sticky stuff on the queen's gray hair. He glanced at Rapunzel, Merida, and Eugene to see their reactions.

All three of them shook their heads vehemently and gestured _no!_ Randulf, Lucia, Fergus, Elinor, and several servants stared at them. The two princesses and the future prince folded their hands and smiled innocently. The kings and queens each raised an eyebrow and went back to eating, while the servants went about their business.

Merida became aware that Hubert, Harris, and Hamish, who had believed in Santa Claus, Jack Frost, and the others since they had first been told the stories, were egging Jack on silently. Jack almost laughed out loud when she glared at them and they swiftly went back to eating their grapes.

He looked back at the other three, and this time they were staring at him eyes bugging out to the size of goose eggs. Rapunzel shook her head the tiniest bit.

Jack tipped the ladle.

Elinor screamed when the butter hit her plate. She tried to get up so fast that her chair tipped backward. "Mum!" cried Merida. She glared at Jack so hard that he waved sheepishly and fled from the hall, pausing momentarily to catch a glance of the scene: Merida, Eugene, and Fergus helping Elinor back to her feet, the queen clutching her heart; Rapunzel covering her mouth with one hand, probably trying not to scream Jack's name; and Rapunzel's mother and father looking at the ceiling, wondering where in heaven's name the apple butter had come from.

Jack flew back toward Rapunzel's room. _That crotchety old woman is Merida's mother?_ Maybe he should rethink his feelings about her. Could a person even rethink feelings? He felt quite conflicted.

He had been smitten with Rapunzel when he first met her, but she was engaged, so she was out of the question. She seemed a little too docile for him anyway. But Merida…

Even though he had seemed cool and suave upon meeting her, his heart had beat fast in his chest and he had felt as though he were falling at a hundred miles per hour, his stomach feeling like barfing. At first it was because Merida was actually rather striking to him, with her windblown fiery hair, bright blue eyes, and slender frame. As Merida described her most recent adventures that night, however, Jack also realized she was virtually carefree and very independent, with a feisty temper. Although the accent had attracted him too.

_But I can't fall in love with a mortal!_ Jack thought. _She'll be gone in the blink of an eye._ Unfortunately, that was the way it was with mortals. To an immortal being like Jack, seventy years was more like seventy seconds. Falling in love with a mortal soul always ended in heartbreaking anguish, knowing that your true love is gone forever and you will never be able to join them.

Even making friends was hard. Jack wasn't sure if he should have made contact with Rapunzel. She was already almost a full-grown woman, and people didn't live very long in these times. Not to mention the fact that she had introduced her fiancé and the girl who was now his crush to him. Jack knew how hard it would be to say goodbye.

He was pondering whether he should just get it over with and say goodbye now inn Rapunzel's room when the door burst open and she and Merida stormed in. "Wot were ye thinkin'?" Merida yelled after slamming the door shut. "Tha's me mum ye just killed!"

Jack looked shocked. "She's _dead?_"

Merida looked apoplectic. "No, she's not dead, ye blitherin' idiot! Tha's just how we Scots say ye've scared ten years offa someone's life! And we don't have long lives in the first place!"

_Don't remind me,_ Jack thought.

Rapunzel put her hands on her hips. "How are we going to explain this? If we don't come up with a good answer, Merida's dad is going to declare war on Corona!"

Merida interrupted, "Well, it ain't that bad yet. But it might get tha' way if'n we don't do somethin' aboot it!"

Jack stayed cool. "Relax. Just tell them your court magician's conjuring act got a little out of hand."

"We don't have a court magician! Magic is forbidden in Corona!"

"Is _magic_ forbidden?" Jack asked, snapping his fingers. Snowflakes fell. "And seriously? I thought every castle had a court magician."

"All right, fine. _Witchcraft_ is forbidden in Corona. But either way, what are we going to do?"

"Like I said, just relax. I've got just the thing." Jack pulled out a golden rectangular tube from his pocket. "I got this from—" He broke off as a tiny, fairy-like creature flew out of his pocket as well, and yawned cutely. "Baby Tooth! What are you doing in my pocket? Have you been there all this time?"

All current problems were forgotten as Rapunzel squealed. "Omigosh it's a baby fairy! I want to hold it!"

"Wot in the name of DunBroch is that?" Merida yelped.

"This is one of the Tooth Fairy's helpers, Baby Tooth," Jack explained. "She follows me around everywhere."

"Oh, okay. So wot is tha' thing ye were goin' tae show us?"

"I'm not sure what it's called. I just know it wipes memories."

"Then what's everyone going to think when they seem to be cleaning up for no reason?" Rapunzel asked, having overcome her initial excitement and was now petting Baby Tooth contentedly.

"Again, do not worry, my damsel in distress. This thing also replaces memories. What say one of the servants tripped and the applesauce happened to fall on the Scottish queen?"

"It's apple butter, and yes, that sounds fine," Rapunzel replied.

"Ah'd still like tae lay low for a while," Merida said nervously.

"I've got the perfect place!" Rapunzel exclaimed. Then she quieted. "It's actually not my favorite place to go now. But it'll do for hiding!"

"Okay, and this place would be…?" Jack inquired.

"It's this old tower, where I lived for eighteen years," Rapunzel whispered.

"Ye mean, ye havenae lived in Sungrace all yore life?" Merida asked, shocked.

"No, I haven't. I'll explain when we get there," said Rapunzel. "Only trouble is, it will take a long time to get there on foot."

"Well, tha's alright! We brought some bonny horses with us on the ship. Me own horse Angus is in yore stables now! And Ah'm sure ye've got yore own horse?"

"I do," Rapunzel smiled, thinking of Maximus.

"Well, then let's go!" Jack said excitedly.

††

_**9:14 AM.**_

Hiccup awoke quite late in the morning.

He sat up and stretched. Forgetting where he was, he announced, "Sorry for getting up so late, Dad. I hope I didn't miss my Academy lesson."

Still a little drowsy, he waited for a reply. Hearing none, he threw back the blankets and stepped onto the floor. _Wow, this carpet is really comfortable,_ he thought, flexing the bare toes on his right foot. Then his half-closed eyes shot open. _ Wait a second…CARPET?_

Memories flooded into his brain. How his father wouldn't listen to him, and how he had run away because of it. Run away. No, he hadn't run away. He just went somewhere to think…

_No,_ Hiccup thought sadly, _I did run away. Because I was too cowardly to face a village about wanting to marry the girl I love. And now I'm too cowardly to return._

He put on his boot and went out of the tower to find Toothless, who was catching fish in the lake. Upon seeing Hiccup, the Night Fury wagged his tail and rushed up to his human, licking him affectionately.

"Alright, bud! See, nothing happened! Totally fine," Hiccup laughed and smiled. It turned into a wince as Toothless pawed his chest. "Ouch, Toothless! I'm ripped up enough without you using me as a scratching post!" Hiccup looked down at himself. He had several cuts and scrapes and his clothes were caked with sand and mud and who knows what else. Hiccup looked back at Toothless. "Maybe it's time I took a bath, bud. And washed these clothes, too."

Toothless rolled over on his back and looked at Hiccup expectantly.

"Sorry, bud. No belly rubs while I'm this dirty." He headed up the stairs to grab an extra blanket, then came back down and walked toward a big rock in front of the lake. Looking around furtively, he stripped off his clothes and slid into the water. Toothless dived in after him, and the two had fun splashing around for a while.

Hiccup then decided to clean himself up. He regretted that there wasn't any soap; he would have to make do without it. He took a large leaf, fallen from a tree, and scrubbed himself down with it from head to toe. When he was satisfied, he took his tunic, pants, vest, underwear, and belt and one by one washed every article of clothing. Then he dried off with the blanket he had brought down and wrapped himself up to wait for his clothes to dry.

Toothless came and lay down next to him, worn out from their play in the water. Eventually, the warm sunshine and sweet smell from nearby wildflowers made them both drowsy, and they dropped off into a light doze.

††

_**9:45 AM.**_

"Okay, Punzie. This is taking a little longer than I thought."

"I'm sorry, Jack. It's been almost a year since I've been there and I only ever left that tower twice, so let's just say I don't have this place mapped out in my head."

"Give her a break, Jack. It's not somethin' she likes rememberin', Ah'm sure," Merida said. "Ye can fly. If'n yore really bored, go fly ahead an' see if ye can spot it."

"Nah, I'm good here," Jack replied quickly. Something about this place gave him the creeps. He didn't know what.

††

_**10:01 AM.**_

Toothless was woken by a blue jay landing on his snout.

He snorted, scaring off the bird, and realized his boy was still napping. He nudged him gently.

Hiccup started and realized the blanket had fallen around his waist. Slightly embarrassed, he pulled it back up and felt his clothes. They were completely dry, having been lying in the hot August sun. He dressed quickly, then decided to check how Toothless's flying gear was working.

The saddle was fine except for the metal plate under the right stirrup, and one of the metal bars in the red tailfin had snapped. Hiccup didn't care overly much about the stirrup, but the bar was essential for Toothless to fly. Hiccup was surprised he and his dragon had made it across the bay, unless the bar had broken after they had landed on shore. He would have a hard time fixing it since he couldn't go to the village.

Hiccup decided to look in the tower for something he could use. "Why don't you go out of the valley and catch something else to eat? You're going to have to walk, because I'm going to try to fix your tailfin so we can get out of here. Whaddya say?"

Toothless whined. Hiccup knew that the dragon liked it in the valley—all the green grass, the flowers, all the fish in the lake—despite his first misgivings about the tower. But Hiccup felt uneasy staying there. Whether it had something to do with that hair or not, he felt an evil presence about the place, and a sense of foreboding, and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

Toothless relented, let Hiccup take off his tailfin and saddle, and ran through the tunnel out into the woods beyond.

††

_**10:09 AM.**_

"Did you guys see that?"

"See what?" wondered Rapunzel.

"That black flash, over by those trees," Jack replied. "Something pretty big…"

"Wotever it is, Angus ain't likin' it," Merida said, trying to keep control of the big horse. "He keeps pawin' the ground, nickerin' an' stuff."

"Maximus doesn't like it either," Rapunzel whispered nervously. "Or Pascal." She mentioned the chameleon that was normally perched on her shoulder, currently cowering behind her neck.

Baby Tooth squeaked and dived into Jack's pocket. "Yeah, it definitely looks odd," he agreed.

Rapunzel gasped. "Guys, I recognize that tree!"

Merida rolled her eyes. "Ye said tha' about five times half an hour ago. It turned out we were goin' in circles."

"No, seriously! We escaped from the Snuggly Duckling through here!"

Merida and Jack stared at her. "The Snuggly _what_?"

"It's this pub down the road. But never mind that. The point is, we're not far from my tower!" Rapunzel clapped her hands eagerly, looking in the hollow trunk of the oak tree. Then she frowned. "Where did all these mushrooms come from?"

"Probably left by some foragin' thing. Coom on, Rapunzel. Ah'd like tae get tae this tower afore sundown," said Merida impatiently.

"Hey, Punzie, this tunnel got anything to do with your tower?" asked Jack, revealing a hole in the rock face nearby.

Rapunzel gasped again. "Yes, yes! This tunnel hides the entrance to the valley where my tower is!"

"Excellent! Now let's go!" Merida exclaimed.

They entered the valley and stood in awe. In the morning sunlight, it was breathtaking. The way the light reflected off the water of the lake, the way the flowers bent in the breeze. And in the middle of it all was the tower.

Merida saw no door. "How do ye get in?"

"I used to have to use my hair to get my supposed mother up there," Rapunzel said bitterly. "But there's this secret entrance, on the side there."

Merida looked at her skeptically. "Ye used yore _h_—"

Suddenly they heard a crash and a loud, "Oh gods, that hurt!"

"There's someone up there!" whispered Rapunzel.

"He probably can't see me," Jack said. "I'll go check it out." And with that, he flew up to the large window.

He crouched on the sill and watched a red-haired boy, maybe sixteen years old, nurse a long, deep, jagged cut on his forearm. Several broken dishes lay around him. The boy yelled in Norse, "Why do I have to be a klutz? I thought I was past that stage of adolescence!"

Jack's sharp eyes noticed some cracks on the floor. They met at a ninety-degree angle. A trap door? Jack snuck in while the boy stomped up the stairs. Actually, he click-stomped. Because he had a prosthetic, his left foot entirely missing. Jack flipped up the edge of the carpet and found he was right; it was a trap door. He opened it and left back through the window.

††

Hiccup was very angry at himself.

Hadn't he just taken a bath less than an hour ago? Hadn't he just cleaned up his clothes? Now he'd already bloodied himself up and broken some old dishes to boot. Obviously his clumsiness hadn't stopped when he'd trained Toothless.

He found strips of bandages in a basket near the bed and used them to wrap his arm up. Then he went back downstairs, the click of his prosthetic mildly irritating him.

He stood at the foot of the stairs, collecting his thoughts. "Did I leave that trap door open?" he wondered aloud. Then he shrugged and continued his search for something to replace the broken bar.

††

Meanwhile, Jack was reporting his find to the girls.

"There was a boy up there, maybe sixteen, wearing strange clothes. I think he's a foreigner. I'm pretty sure I heard him speak Norse."

Merida went ballistic. "Norse! Then the kid's a Vikin'! We've got tae get up there an' end his miserable life afore he kills us all!" she screamed, drawing the bow she always carried with her.

"Whoa, Merida! Calm down! I'm the princess of Corona, and there will be no merciless, uncalled-for slaughter in my kingdom," Rapunzel declared. It was a strange feeling, exercising her power over the people, even if they technically weren't _her_ people. "We'll go up there and demand to know what he's doing in our lands. _If_ he's a Viking."

"I opened up a trap door while he wasn't looking. We can sneak up through there," Jack informed them.

††

Hiccup was very busy with his search.

So busy, in fact, that he didn't notice three people sneak up through the floor behind him (although it made sense for him not to notice Jack).

He found out when he knocked over a bunch of paintbrushes. "Oh, Nadders," he grouched, and bent over to pick them up. He began murmuring to himself in Norse.

"Alright, ye filthy Vikin'! Put yore hands up in the air where we can see 'em, and don' ye even think o' reachin' fer a weapon!"

Hiccup gasped. A Scot! He'd though this place was abandoned!

He looked up and knew better than to disobey the red-headed girl. She looked like she really knew how to use that bow. An arrow was nocked on the string, ready to snuff out his life in a heartbeat.

"I'm not here to hurt anyone," he said slowly in Gaelic, which was one of three languages he knew, the others being English and Norse. "I'm just here to rest."

Another girl stepped forward. This girl had short brown hair and big green eyes. She looked slightly disdainful. She spoke imperiously in English, "I am the Royal Princess of Corona, the Kingdom of the Sun. I command you to tell me: Are you a Viking?"

Hiccup knew he had nothing to gain by lying. They had heard him speak Norse, after all. He answered in English, "Yes, I am, but I swear, I won't hurt you. If you hurt me, though, my friend will kill you."

The Scot looked crazed. "He's lyin'! Ye don' see any friend here, do ye, Rapunzel? He's tellin' a dirty lie, just like the filth he is!"

She pulled the arrow back ever so slightly, causing Hiccup to flinch. "He'd kill us all the moment he had the chance!" She aimed at his heart.

"Wait!" Rapunzel cried. She pointed to his prosthetic. "You wouldn't hurt a cripple!"

"Hey!" retorted Hiccup angrily. His temper flared despite his immediate danger.

"See?" the Scot cried insanely. "Ye've got him angry! If I don' kill him now, we'll be done for!" She got ready to loose the arrow. "Prepare to die, filthy Vikin'!"

Staring death in the face, all Hiccup could do was remember what he had thought when he and Toothless had first landed on the unknown island, and know that he had been right.

Corona, the Kingdom of the Sun, was no place for a Viking.


	9. Ch 8: New Beginnings

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 8: New Beginnings**

Hiccup closed his eyes, ready for death to come.

What a way for a Viking to die: at the hand—or arrow, rather—of a crazed Scot, her false accusations the last thing ringing in his ears instead of Astrid's comforting voice, which he would have preferred. He couldn't think about the swish-_thump_ of the arrow piercing his chest, and the agony that would immediately follow, lasting at the most a few minutes. All he could see in his mind's eye was Astrid, and all he could think was how much he wanted to apologize for his spineless action of running away.

Suddenly the Scot yelled, "Hey!" as an unseen force knocked into the bow, sending the arrow into the wall above Hiccup's head.

"Jack! Wot in heaven's name did ye do tha' fer?" she shrieked at nothing.

Hiccup stared. _Oh Thor's whiskers, she really IS crazy._ He began to edge toward the trap door as the brunette princess spun around to look at the Scot. He knew he didn't really have a chance of escape on his own, but he might be able to call for Toothless before something really bad happened.

††

Merida saw him out of the corner of her eye. "Oh no, ye don't! Ye ain't escapin' tha' easy!" She began to pull another arrow from her quiver, but Jack stopped her. "I don't think he's dangerous, Merida. He's not exactly the most intimidating kid ever. Let's just hear him out."

Merida scoffed. "Hear him out? He'd sooner die than talk!" She was tired of pointless banter. She lunged forward and, before the Viking boy could act, caught him round the neck, lifted him off his feet, and shoved him against the wall.

"Merida, no!" cried Rapunzel and Jack.

††

Hiccup knew he was a lightweight, but this was just embarrassing.

Sure, he'd grown taller, but he still didn't weigh much more than ninety pounds.

The girl was surprised. "Ye don' eat much, do ye?"

Hiccup didn't need a Scot to tell him that.

She shook her head and regained her look of ferocity. "It doesnae matter. Say hello tae yore gods fer me!" She prepared to slam his head into the wall.

Suddenly, a roar was heard, not far from the tower. Hiccup actually smiled with relief.

He was saved!

††

Toothless was glad Hiccup had sent him out of the valley.

He hadn't been able to hunt for the longest time on Berk, since the Vikings normally didn't hunt, and now was his opportunity to sharpen his skills.

After unsuccessfully trying to catch a few strange creatures (like small horses, only with tree branches coming out of their heads), he had accidentally scared a couple of Corona's Royal Hunters. They had run away screaming, back to their village, yelling all the way about a dragon in the forest. Toothless had then settled down and eaten some of the creature (deer, they had called it) that they had taken down with spears. It was delicious; how could they not have this deer on Berk?

Afterward, he had let his food digest and lay down under a tree, lazily watching a rabbit scurry from its hiding place to a new one. He took a short nap.

He had awoken with a jolt. He sensed something—something bad. Hiccup was in trouble! In danger! He had to help him!

Toothless retraced his steps frantically and found the tunnel. He ripped through it and his sharp ears heard loud talking from the tall house where Hiccup had rested. "It doesnae matter. Say hello tae yore gods fer me!"

Toothless had heard that phrase several times before—and it always meant someone was about to die! He gave a terrible roar and galloped toward the tower.

††

Merida paused and turned.

Rapunzel looked out the window. She screamed and ducked as a huge black creature was framed in the window. Merida gasped. A Night Fury! The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself!

The beast's eyes roamed over Rapunzel and Jack (whom he could see) and stopped on Merida. Its pupils turned to slits when it saw that she had the boy by the throat. It gave an unearthly shriek, unfolded its wings and burst into the room, destroying the window in its fury.

The dragon attacked Merida, ripping her from the Viking and swatting her to the floor. It stood over her, opened its mouth, and screamed. She could see the gas build up in the monster's throat, preparing to blast her with its blue and purple fire. She had a sudden vision of Mor'du standing over her helpless body, roaring, about to bite her face off.

"Toothless, NO!" the boy yelled.

††

It was obvious that the dragon didn't hear him.

Hiccup could see Toothless was so full of rage, ready to unleash his wrath upon the Scot who dared try to kill his beloved rider. The only thing the dragon could hear was his own fury.

Hiccup let out a scream: one he didn't even know he was capable of, one that would have made Stoick the Vast proud. "TOOTHLESS, NOOOOOO!"

At the same time, the other princess and an unseen person screamed, "NOOOOOO!"

Toothless stopped with a jolt and gave his precious boy a pleading look. Hiccup knew he was saying, _she tried to kill you, can't I at least take a bite out of her?_ "No, Toothless," Hiccup said firmly. "I think she might appreciate it if you get off her."

Toothless backed off and hissed as the Scot stood up slowly. She hadn't understood his Norse, but she got the gist of what Hiccup had said. She looked at him in shock. "Ye didnae let him kill me," she said quietly.

"Nope," Hiccup agreed. "I didn't let him kill you."

"But…" she whispered. "Ah was gonna kill ye just 'cos ye were a Vikin', regardless of whether ye were gonna hurt us or not."

She hesitated. "Ah guess Ah was wrong aboot ye Vikin's. Ye ain't all bad after all."

Hiccup smiled uneasily. "No, we're not all bad. Some Vikings are kind of obsessed with conquering other countries and taking their territory and stuff, but my tribe really just keeps to itself."

Merida cleared her throat. "Well, then, perhaps we'd better start over. Me name's Merida and Ah'm the princess o' DunBroch in Scotland. Ah like archery and ridin' horses. Wot aboot ye?"

"My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, and I'm the son of Stoick the Vast, Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, on the Isle of Berk. I like training dragons," Hiccup replied, patting Toothless fondly.

"When did ye start _trainin'_ dragons? Ah thought ye fought 'em!"

"Um, excuse me," the brunette interrupted. "I don't mean to be presumptive or anything, but…could I introduce myself?"

Hiccup grinned. "Well, sure!"

"Okay…my name is Rapunzel, I'm the princess of Corona, and I love to paint and bake."

Hiccup's eyes lit up. "Seriously? Me too!"

Rapunzel gasped in delight. "This is so exciting! A Viking who actually prefers painting and baking to swordplay and fistfights!" She paused. "I take it you don't like swordplay or fistfights?"

He shook his head. "Please. Look at me. You really think I could even lift a sword with these arms?" he asked, waving them.

Rapunzel laughed. "Well, I didn't want to hurt your feelings, but no, I didn't think you could." She glanced at Merida. "Would you like to meet someone?"

"Like him?" Hiccup pointed to Jack.

Rapunzel, Merida, and Jack's eyes bugged out. The girls shouted, "You can see him?!" just as Jack called, "You can see me?!"

Hiccup laughed. "Yes, I can. Ever since you shouted at my dragon a few minutes ago."

"Wait. So, before that you couldn't see him, but when he yelled at your dragon to stop killing Merida, you could?" Rapunzel tried to get Hiccup's story straight.

"He yelled pretty loud. I think the reason I'm not freaking out about him now is because I'm still in shock from almost being shot." He glanced at Merida.

Merida looked at Jack. "Goodness, Jack, if only ye could do tha' with everyone!"

Jack shrugged and grinned. "It would be useful."

Hiccup studied Jack. "So Jack Frost is real," he mused.

Jack put his hands on his hips in mock indignity. "Of course I'm real! How couldn't I be real?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Maybe because I've never seen you before, and from the looks of it, not many other people have either?"

Jack sat on the ruined windowsill dejectedly. "You got that right."

Hiccup thought hard for a minute. "It sounds like what just happened doesn't usually happen—I mean you yell and I just happen to hear you, even though I'm not supposed to be able to. Do you think the moon had anything to do with it?"

The others looked at him blankly. "What moon, Hiccup?" Rapunzel asked.

"The big moon! It got all dark an instant before we all yelled, and then there was this bright light, the moon. I saw snowflakes…and then I could see you."

"That sounds like Manny!" Jack jumped up and paced through the air.

"Manny…?" Merida questioned.

"The Man in the Moon. The one who made me Jack Frost. The one who said I would be a Guardian. He must have intervened in the situation, _made_ you able to see me…" He looked at Hiccup. "Are you sure he didn't say anything? Something with pictures that would mean something like 'Believe in Jack Frost' or 'Don't kill Merida'?"

"Well, before when I told Toothless to stop, I just did it out of reflex. I knew that if he did kill Merida, only Rapunzel would be there to stop us. I also could tell she wasn't the fighting type, so I figured if Merida died Toothless and I could just escape."

Merida put her hands on her hips angrily.

"I'm not saying I'm proud of those feelings! I think a little part of me wanted to spare her in order to show her that not all Vikings are killers.

"Anyway, after that when I knew Toothless hadn't heard me, I had that vision, and during the vision I had this feeling—and it wasn't a gut instinct feeling, it was more like it just came over me because I was having the vision—this feeling that there was somebody else in the room, someone powerful enough to defeat…someone almost as powerful as the Vikings' god Thor, someone who casts fear into the hearts of the most heroic men. And another feeling came with it…that I couldn't let my dragon kill this girl, even though she was going to kill me. It was as though it's our destiny to meet each other."

Jack stopped pacing and landed. "I think it was Manny. He's been known to prophesy in the past—he told the Guardians before me about the very first rise of the Boogeyman."

Hiccup yawned. "Okay, no offense guys, but either you're starting to talk crazy or I'm just really tired, because I thought you just said 'very first rise of the _Boogeyman_.'"

"I did say 'very first rise of the Boogeyman.' He exists. So do Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and the Easter Bunny, not to mention leprechauns, gnomes, giants, werewolves, yeti, ogres, ghosts, gryffons, dwarves, centaurs, mermaids, dragons (although you guys already knew that) and elves. Although you can easily get confused with elves. There are the ones who work in Santa's workshop, the tiny, cute ones, and then there's the humanoid ones who shoot arrows and throw spears at anything that mov—"

"Jack! Quit yore yammering and tell us aboot this Manny Moon person," Merida cut in.

"Alright, yikes! Don't get your knickers in a twist. Wait, that's a British saying, isn't it? And you're Scottish. I really need to get my nationalities right."

"Jack…" Merida warned in a low, growling tone.

Jack raised his hands in surrender. "I've told you everything I know about Manny. Sorry."

Rapunzel joined the conversation. "Excuse me, but earlier you said something about…_destiny_?" she asked skeptically.

Merida nodded vigorously. "Fate, ye mean! Some don't believe it exists, but I'm tellin' ye, it does! We Scots believe things about fate—some say it's set in stone and ye can't change it, and some say it's tied tae the land; yore fate changes as the land does. Ah believe somethin' a little different—that yore fate can change, but only with the help of somethin' most of the world doesnae know aboot—the Will o' the Wisps. They're only knoon tae inhabit Scotland, an' no one knows why. But anyway, if ye happen tae find some, and ye follow the trail they make, it's said it'll change yore fate! And it's true, because it happened tae me!"

Rapunzel, who had been doubtful about the whole destiny thing before, was now wholly engrossed by Merida's speech. "Really? Destiny is a real thing? You mean our actions don't matter, and we don't make any choices because it's all predestined?"

Merida laughed. "No! It's our choices that shape our fate. Our actions matter completely. Mine certainly did; me original fate was tae be married off tae some dolt 'cos tha's the way it goes with princesses in Scotland. Ah took action an' changed that fate. Now Ah don't have tae marry anyone if Ah don't want tae. An' Ah don't plan tae marry anyone, ever, and Ah refuse tae fall in love with anyone. It'll restrict me freedom."

††

Jack wilted inside.

The tiny bubble of hope in his heart died as Merida spoke those words. She wasn't ever going to fall in love with him. She would never consider marrying him. Not that she could anyway, what with him being an immortal Guardian, but it still would have been nice to know if she would have married him, had he been mortal.

But she would never marry him. She'd just said it herself.

_She'll never love me._

††

Merida was surprised.

_What did I say that for?_ She asked herself. _That's not true. I'm in love with Jack…But he's Jack Frost. He's probably got girls haggling over him all the time, girls that can see him anyway. He used to it._

She looked over at Jack, who seemed to be pointedly not looking at her. She was right. Jack didn't love her. She couldn't figure out why he would anyway.

"So, umm, how did you change your fate? Think I could change mine?" Hiccup wondered.

Rapunzel cringed. "I wish we had time to tell stories, but it's almost time for lunch at the palace. Merida and I can't be late, or we'll get in trouble with our parents."

Jack hopped onto what was left of the windowsill. "Wish I could stay, dragon boy, but I've got a job, and that's to get the ladies through the forest to the bridge. Punzie here got us lost trying to find this place."

The girls patted Toothless, who had warmed up to them considerably since he now knew they meant Hiccup no harm. He licked them lightly.

"Hey, umm, you think you guys can bring us back something to eat?" Hiccup requested as his stomach gurgled. "I've only eaten mushrooms for the past day, and I don't even know what Toothless has been up to."

Rapunzel beamed. "Of course we don't mind! We'll have to ask Jack to sneak some food from the kitchens. We can bring it right after we eat."

Hiccup watched as his newfound friends left through the trap door. He smiled at Toothless. "Looks like we're safe, bud. For now."

**END OF CHAPTER: COMMENTS BELOW**

Wow, so this is the first comment I've put on this site. Well, if you want more detailed comments, visit my gallery on my deviantART profile (that is my primary site for this fanfic) and if you happen to be a deviant, you can join my group (on the page). Since this thing refuses to let me put a link here, just go to dA and type in Legend of the Big Four on the search box. It might take a while, but you'll find it. Then you can click on my username and it'll take you to my profile.


	10. Ch 9: The Search Is On

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 9: The Search Is On**

_**August 1, 1296, 9:26 PM.**_

Gothel finally made it to Madame Mim's den.

It had taken her a long time, much longer than she had expected. She _had_ undershot the distance to Scotland somewhat—she'd landed about a mile from shore—but she still would've gotten there the day before if it hadn't been for that unnatural snowstorm. She didn't suspect Jack Frost was involved; she just figured it was Mim's magic going a bit wonky.

She stood outside the entrance to the den and reviewed her plan. She had to be calm; she couldn't let her eagerness for ownership of the Resurrection Draught get in the way of her common sense. She had to be tactful.

She straightened up as best she could—her aching back bent her over more and more these days—and knocked on the door.

There was a creaking noise and the door opened. Gothel found herself staring at one big, sharp knife. A tiny old woman with a scratchy voice said, "Who are ye? An' wot do ye want?"

Gothel cleared her throat and replied respectfully, "I am a poor, lonely old woman, and I wish to speak with you, if you would kindly let me." Her voice flowed like oil over ice.

Mim narrowed her eyes. "Ye ain't a Scotsman, yore a Brit, an' Ah don't do talkin' with Brits!"

Gothel bowed her head. "As you wish. Although, the topic of which I wish to speak is quite…interesting, I think."

Mim sighed tiredly; it was obvious she didn't feel like arguing. "Oh, all right. Come in then."

Gothel was led to a small dinner table, where a tea set had been placed. Handing her one of the cups gruffly, Mim asked, "So ye've told me what ye are, but not who ye are. Ye'd best tell me afore mah patience runs oot. Ah've had trouble getting mah water tae boil lately, which means mah dinner's always late. Especially taenight. Ah hope ye didn't just come in here tae beg fer food…"

Gothel shook her head. "No, no. I come only to talk. Excuse me, but why are you having trouble getting your water to boil?"

Mim glanced quickly at the large cauldron over the twigs in the middle of the room. "Oh, um, well, see, it's hard tae rub two sticks taegether when yore hands are as brittle as mine, an' usin' mah other methods—well…" She chuckled. "Ah'm quite an old gel. Ah'm a bit rusty with mah other methods."

Gothel stood and wandered over to the shelves of potions. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of them. She fingered some of the jars.

The other witch stood quickly. "Now ye watch yerself over there, those are mah po—er, preserves! Yes, mah fruit preserves, and if ye break 'em Ah'll have nothin' fer the winter!"

Gothel laughed mirthlessly. "Winter isn't for five more months. You would have plenty of time to make more. _If_ these were fruit preserves. Which I know they aren't." She looked Mim straight in the eye. "Come now, Madame Mim, won't you tell a fellow witch about some of your potions?"

Mim looked totally shocked. Her eyes were as big as dinner plates and her mouth hung slightly open. She sat down, her hand at her heart. She didn't process the fact that Gothel had said _fellow witch_. "Ah'm been tryin' to hide mah identity since tha' redhead princess came in here lookin' tae change her fate." She looked up at Gothel. "Nobody's known who Ah am since then. How did ye find oot?"

Gothel laughed uproariously—or she would have if she'd had the lungs to do it. She settled for a low chuckle. "Please, Madame, every witch within a thousand miles knows of you. Probably more, in fact. You are the most powerful of us all," she answered, throwing in a little flattery. "Although, as you said, your methods _are_ a little rusty."

Mim, having got over her shock, bristled at the veiled slur on her magical abilities. She stood. "Now, look here, witch, Ah don't know who ye are, but ye ain't gonnae come intae mah house an' insult me without sufferin' the consequences." She raised her hands, and about a hundred knives, much like the one Gothel had come face to face with, surrounded her. Mim glared. "Get oot o' here afore Ah stick ye with all o' these!"

To her surprise, Gothel only smiled. She raised her own hands as high as possible and turned all the knives to face Mim. Mim growled and rotated them back to Gothel. Gothel twisted them back to Mim. This went on for another minute until Gothel yawned and said lazily, "I can do this all day, Madame. That is, unless you want to hear what I have to say."

Mim flicked her wrist and the knives flew back to their spaces. "Oh, fine. Wot is it?"

Gothel sat back down at the table and gestured for Mim to do the same. The older witch frowned at Gothel's rudeness but complied.

"So, you change the fates of those who ask you, I am correct? That usually involves transforming someone into a bear?"

Mim nodded. "Yes. It's quite useful for shutting up bothersome people, and many times people like what I've done."

Gothel almost laughed aloud. "Do you really think so? Maybe they only say that so you won't be offended and they won't end up as frogs or some such punishment. Do you really believe that people like having themselves or family members turn into wild animals? Especially when you didn't tell them that would happen beforehand?" She sneered. "It seems to me that that is your only method of changing fates. It _is_ quite effective, but entirely in the wrong way. If I were the one changing fates, I would give them a potion or the like—give them exactly what they want."

Mim scowled. "Are ye sayin' tha' ye could do mah job better'n Ah could?"

Gothel shrugged nonchalantly. "Perhaps."

Mim wasn't sure what Gothel was getting at, but she didn't like it. "Ye're treadin' in dangerous waters, Brit. Ah don't like yore tone or yore smooth talkin'. Ye're marchin' in here, sayin' ye can change fates better'n me an' that people will like 'em better too. Well, Ah disagree, but tha' ain't the point. The point is, ye're doin' me a rudeness, so Ah'm gonnae do ye one right back." She leaned forward. "Git out!"

Gothel held up her hands in surrender. "Madame, I did not mean to offend you—"

Mim crossed her arms. "Could've fooled me."

"—but I assure you, there is a way to determine who is better at this fate-changing business."

"An' tha' would be—?"

"A simple contest. We would take in two persons who want their fates changed. You would change the fate of one, and I the other. We ask the two to come back whenever they have the chance after the methods have been tried. Whichever person comes back happier; the witch who changed his fate wins."

"Wot's the catch?"

"Ah, the catch. Also quite simple. If you win, I will be your servant for one entire year. If I win, I gain the Resurrection Draught you have in your possession."

"Tha's all?"

"That is all."

"Ah don't believe yore a real witch. Ye could've been taught some magic as a human. Where's proof that yore a true witch?" Mim demanded suddenly.

Gothel rolled up her sleeve and showed Mim the marking on the inside of her elbow: It was the sign of Hecate, the Greek goddess of magic. It was burned on the skin of every witch and wizard on earth.

Mim finally believed her. She decided to join Gothel's contest. "Ye really are a witch. An' tha' contest sounds like a good idea. Might show ye a bit o' humility." She stuck out her hand. "It's a deal. No cheatin', now, right?"

Gothel smiled. "Of course not. From here on out there will be no cheating." She shook Mim's hand. If only the old woman knew that Gothel had already cheated.

††

_**Earlier that day. 4:54 PM.**_

All of Berk was on the lookout for the Chief's son.

Hiccup hadn't been wrong when he had thought his father wasn't the type to dote over his child if he ran away. At that very moment Stoick was imagining various ways to maim Hiccup when he found him. Not that he would ever do such a thing. He'd probably just tie him to a bench, lecture him, have him do some work around the island, maybe even not allow him to ride Toothless for a while. A couple of weeks, most likely. Either way, Hiccup wasn't going to go unpunished. He was almost a man and needed to be held accountable for his actions and take the consequences.

While he ruminated on how best to punish Hiccup, his friends—well, some of them—were focused on finding him. Astrid was very worried. Hiccup had left the night of July 28 and hadn't been seen since. Sometimes her boyfriend would go off to think, but usually he was only gone for a few hours, a full day at most. He had been gone almost four full days. This wasn't a normal Hiccup outing. Even though Astrid didn't know about the proposal, she knew something was very wrong.

Fishlegs was sure Hiccup was gone because of him. He was certain that Hiccup had gotten upset because he had blurted out his secret to the others, and that when Hiccup had run off to stop Snotlout, he had really gone to his house to pack stuff up to leave for a while because he was so embarrassed.

The twins were sure that Hiccup was fine; he always had a plan in case of trouble, didn't he? They kept on punching and hitting each other.

Snotlout was very secretly pleased that Hiccup had gone missing. It wasn't as though he really wanted his cousin to die, but if Hiccup did get himself killed, Snotlout thought, he would be next in line for Chief and Astrid, which was what he deserved, of course. He continued to watch the twins as Astrid and Fishlegs flew over Dragon Island, searching fervently for their friend.

They were so involved in their search that they didn't notice at first that Snotlout, Ruffnut, and Tuffnut hadn't joined them.

"Where do you think he could be? And why did he leave without telling everyone?" asked Astrid.

Fishlegs jumped nervously. He didn't want to lie, but he felt it was his duty to protect Hiccup's secret from Astrid at the very least. "Uhh, who knows why he left? This is Hiccup we're talking about. He's probably got some very good reasons for going out without telling us…"

"Not for this long, Fishlegs," Astrid contradicted grimly. "Never this long. He's either hurt, in trouble, or thinks he can't show his face for some odd reason."

Fishlegs gulped and blanched. Astrid noticed. "Fishlegs? Do you know something the rest of us don't?" she pried curiously.

Fishlegs grinned shiftily. "I always know something the rest of you don't. I'm just antsy because we're getting really far from land and Meatlug gets an upset stomach when she's too far from land. Say, you know there's some lone island out there? About four, maybe five days away on dragonback?" he chattered in order to change the subject. "It's called the Kingdom of Corona. It's about five or six days away from Scotland. I noticed on some maps that they say there's a stretch of lonely woods there—"

It was all Astrid needed to hear. "Why didn't you tell me before? Hiccup might have gone there to have some alone time, and it makes sense that he's been gone so long, if it's four days away, it would take eight days round-trip, wouldn't it!"

"Well, Astrid, maybe he didn't go there, I don't see why he would," Fishlegs tried to deter her. He was afraid that if Hiccup really were hiding there, he had just given away another secret.

Astrid was not to be distracted. "Where are the other guys? We need to go tell the Chief! He can take some ships out and sail there to ask if someone's seen him!"

Fishlegs sighed and let Astrid take the lead.

When Stoick was told of Corona, he looked thoughtful. He didn't say anything for a full five minutes. Suddenly he glanced at Fishlegs. "You are sure of this, Fishlegs?" he inquired. "You know for certain that this island exists?"

Fishlegs had no choice but to tell the truth; he couldn't lie to the Chief. "Yes, sir. I checked several maps drawn by different mapmakers, and the island was on all of them."

Stoick got up from his bench in the Great Hall where he was seated. "Well, then, we'll head straight for Corona and search. We'll take a minimum number of weapons so that the island won't think we're attacking. I know you said that it's four or five days on dragonback, but I would prefer you kids stay near the ships so no one gets lost, and if the dragons get tired, they can rest."

None of the five teenagers objected to this plan; at least they were actually going on the trip.

Stoick called the Hooligans to the village square. "We have a lead on where my son might have hidden himself! The Island of Corona is about eight days away by ship. We need as many able-bodied Vikings as possible to come on this mission. Who is with me?"

Gobber the Belch, Spitelout Jorgenson, and Astrid's father Brune the Burly were among the most eager for a sailing journey (it had been a while since the Vikings had been off the island).

It was settled. The Vikings were going to the island of Corona.

††

_**At the same time.**_

The Guardians were extremely worried.

They hadn't seen Jack since he had gone out to melt his summer snow on July 28. It was about four days later. Tooth was especially anxious since she had a small crush on Jack. _What if some kind of monster got him?_ she constantly thought. _Or something even worse?_

North couldn't understand why Jack had seemingly left his duty and dropped off the face of the earth. He still had snow readings in parts of the ocean between Scotland and that tiny Sun Kingdom. North was sure that Jack had a very good reason for stopping in his work. If only he knew what that was…

Bunny had a very different opinion about Jack's disappearance. He was sure that Jack was sullen about having to clean up his mess and had just decided to go sulk in the middle of the job. _Of course, he's a little old for pouting, but it would be something Jack would do_, he thought.

As the Guardians talked about the matter in North's office, Bunny put forth his opinion. They began to argue.

"Jack wouldn't do any such thing!" Tooth cried indignantly. "He's 118 years old, not five!"

North also disagreed. "Jack isn't one to mope about having to clean up his own messes," he said. "Something big must have happened while he was out there, and he decided to investigate."

Sandy stood by Tooth and North.

Bunny was slightly abashed. "All right, so maybe I was wrong. Maybe I am just prejudiced against him because of that blizzard stunt he pulled on the Easter of 1068. But still, think about it. He's been away for four days. Does it really take four days to investigate something, even if it is big? Maybe I am wrong about Jack sulking somewhere, but it's possible he met with foul play."

Tooth looked thoughtful. "But what kind of foul play would he meet up with? Pitch Black is gone, and so are his nightmares."

North corrected, "Actually, Toothiana, I've heard rumors about rogue nightmares flitting about France and the like. It _is_ possible Jack met some of them on his way to the ocean between Scotland and Corona. But you would think he would have been able to fight them off…"

Bunny hopped up excitedly. "If there were too many of them, he might not have been able to. But maybe I'm still wrong about that. He could have found someone who believes in him—"

Tooth interrupted. "And decided to hang around for a while!"

North agreed. "Like he often does with Jamie. But he could have found someone like that anywhere there's snow. Where could he be?"

"Probably in the areas where he made it snow recently," Tooth suggested. "And I bet Baby Tooth went with him; she's being missing for about the same length of time."

North considered Tooth's idea. Turning to one of the elves, he said, "Leno, tell me in which country the snow stopped most recently."

"The unexpected snow, sir?"

"Precisely."

Leno left and returned a few minutes later. "That would be Corona, sir."

"That's ironic. The Spirit of Winter stopping for a visit in the Sun Kingdom," Bunny laughed.

North stood up from behind his desk. "We go to Corona to bring him back. He has other Guardian duties to take care of; he can't push them aside for a single child."

Sandy, who hadn't been able to get a picture in, agreed. So did the other two.

The Guardians proceeded back to their homes to prepare for the journey.


	11. Ch 10: On the Subject of Evil

LEGEND OF THE BIG FOUR: THE RETURN OF PITCH BLACK

**CHAPTER 10: On the Subject of Evil…**

Yes, Gothel had already cheated Mim.

Before she had arrived at Mim's, she had stopped at a nearby village, ducked into a pub, and tactfully asked if anyone knew of a little old woman who lived in a secluded area of the woods.

The bartender had pointed her over to an elderly man, who in turn pointed her over to several very drunk men, all young, bold, and very, very foolhardy. She had then convinced two of them to meet in the forest near DunBroch's castle at midnight.

_**August 2, 1296 AD, 12:03 AM.**_

It was now a few hours after Gothel had spoken with Mim, and she was addressing the two young men, Riaghan and Diomasach, under the tallest tree in the forest. "Good fellows, I assume that you know about the late Madame Mim, the witch who lives here?"

Both men nodded quickly.

"And I also assume you know that she will change the fates of those who ask her to do so?"

"Not anymore, Ah'm afraid," Diomasach corrected her haughtily. "She stopped tha' after Her Royal Highness— " he said this sarcastically "—Her Royal Highness got the Queen transformed intae one o' them bears."

Gothel raised an eyebrow, trying to keep her temper in check; Diomasach's insolence had not been lost on her. "My dear man, do you want to earn any money at all? If so, I recommend that you keep quiet and listen to me." She watched him smugly as he shuffled his feet angrily. "Now then, I went to visit Madame Mim before you came here, and she and I are currently competing to see whose method of changing fates is better. That is where you come in. I would like both of you to come along the path and just so happen to find her hut. You go in and find both of us there. You will not acknowledge that you know me at all. You will make up a story about how you would like your fates changed.

"We will agree to do it. Madame Mim will change the fate of one of you, and I the other." Gothel went on to explain the aspects of the contest. "See, I would like you, Riaghan, to have your fate changed by the Madame. Do what she says and after a couple of days, whether you really are happy with the result or not, come back and tell her you are not satisfied with the result.

"You, Diomasach, will have your fate changed by me. Again, you will do as I say and return in a few days' time, only you shall be satisfied with the outcome of my spell. That will result in me winning the contest."

"An' wot's in it fer us?" Riaghan asked skeptically.

In reply, Gothel held up, not one, but two satchels full of gold and silver coins. "Each of you shall receive one," she declared, "if you do as I ask." She knew she already had them.

Diomasach's and Riaghan's eyes glittered with greed as they watched her slowly swing the satchels back and forth, like a hypnotist.

"We'll do it!" they cried voraciously.

Gothel smiled wickedly. There was no way she could lose.

††

Around the same time, Mor'du was migrating farther into the land of DunBroch.

He wasn't sure why. Perhaps tonight was the night he would kill that hated princess and her mother. Maybe even her father, too.

He was sure of one thing—he would show no mercy when he found them. He seethed as he thought of that fateful—no pun intended—fateful night when that redhead Merida had separated his spirit from his body. Or rather, when Elinor had. He had thought he was finally free from living life as a monster, a dreaded beast. But when he had not descended into eternal rest, and had simply stayed on earth as a sort of ghost, he knew he had been cheated. Only the beast that had once been himself had been disposed of. They had not killed _him_.

And now he could not enjoy the pleasures of life: eating, drinking, being with friends. Not that he had had any friends as a human. But still, as a ghost, he could do nothing. He couldn't even sleep. The only thing he could do was take over the body of another living creature. Namely, another bear.

That was the only way he could take pleasure in life. He ate with the bear, drank with the bear, lived in the bear.

It wasn't enough.

Maybe if he just destroyed the DunBrochs, he could find a way to become human again. He would start anew. He would live in a new village, make new friends, maybe even find a wife.

Mor'du was slowly deluding himself with the lie that he would be able to truly live again.

††

Pitch Black was restless.

He was becoming impatient for his potential benefactors to arrive. He had seen further who they were. He saw a woman, obviously a witch. There was a man following her, one who had seen much bloody warfare and sorrow. He held a strange respect for the witch in front of him. Pitch also saw a great muscular man, large enough to eat three full plates of human food and still be hungry for more. A vast army stood behind him. The closest person to him was a young girl.

Pitch was vaguely confused. This girl was much, much fuzzier in his mind than the others were. He couldn't even tell what color her hair was—brown? Red? She seemed ever so slightly reluctant to follow the large man.

But what did it matter? She was one puny human among the hundreds that would help him rise again; she couldn't possibly foil his plans if she decided to rebel against him.

††

The Outcasts were only two days from Corona.

A young girl strode boldly across the deck of the Outcast battleship. She was sixteen and a half, with long, auburn hair always tied back in a fishtail braid. She had hazel eyes and a narrow, pretty face covered in freckles. She was quiet but strong, small but brave. She did not speak as the Outcasts did; she spoke in a light, friendly tone (unless she was angry), delicate and precise, with no accent whatsoever. She didn't wear the same clothing as the Outcasts; instead, she preferred a short tunic, lightweight pants, a yak-fur vest, and moccasin-like boots.

Not only was this benign-looking teenage girl an assassin, she was Alvin's personal executioner.

Ashlynne Longspear was the most feared Outcast in the tribe, second only to Alvin. Her quick reflexes, silent feet, and ability to melt into the shadows made it easy for her to kill. And harder for her to be killed.

Not that anyone would dare try to kill her. Ashlynne and Alvin had a strange relationship, hardly ever seen in the Outcast tribe. Alvin would kill the first man to look at her wrong. He had done so several times, in fact.

Anyone who displeased Alvin badly enough to warrant condemnation had no hope of survival past three days after he was declared guilty, because there was nowhere one could hide from Ashlynne. Whether she used a bow, a spear, a sword or a knife (her weapon of choice), she never missed a target. Never.

So on the night she headed for the Chief's cabin on the battleship, no one stalled or harassed her. Well, almost no one.

"So, Ashlynne, goin' ta snitch on yer precious Alvin's crew members?" chortled a sailor snidely, having had too much Outcast beer. He and a pal snorted.

Ashlynne cast a cold eye upon them, and the two sailors shut up immediately. Many of the Outcasts, being quite superstitious, believed that Ashlynne was in possession of magical powers; specifically, the power to hypnotize others to do her bidding with only her eyes. Whether she actually had magic in her eyes was unknown. But the fact was that she could convince the most suspicious man on earth that she meant him no harm, even as she pulled out a knife to kill him. And that was just with her eyes. When she used her honey-infused voice, it was hard even for Alvin to resist her.

"You're lucky you don't know what you just said, fool, or you'd be able to breathe through your neck about now," Ashlynne spat icily, not bothering to add any of her normal sweetness to her tone. "Be glad that you're drunk and I'm not in the mood to kill."

The men scurried away. She watched them with sudden amusement.

That was another thing about Ashlynne. Her moods were as unpredictable as a storm at sea, much like Alvin's, in truth. She could switch from a friendly, caring attitude to kill mode in an instant and go right back again.

She continued down the deck to the large Chief's cabin. It wasn't luxurious—nothing in the Outcast world ever was—but it was much finer than any of the other cabins except for her own below deck. She strode up to the door and walked right in. She didn't even bother knocking, as Alvin would not care if _she_ were to barge in on him.

Alvin was clearly irritated about something. "Savage, tha' better not be ya, or yer gonna find yerself in a world o'—" He stopped midsentence as he realized it was Ashlynne.

A genuine smile spread across the callous Viking's face. It obviously gave him pure joy to see her. An evil, malicious joy, indeed, but joy nonetheless.

"Ashlynne, me girl, I was wonderin' when ya were gonna come ta see me! I been waitin' fer yer visit all day, been the high point, it has…"

Ashlynne always spoke cordially to Alvin, despite their deep relationship and the fact that they went back a long time. "And why would that be, sir?"

"Well, ya see, Assassin, I've been thinkin'. I've been thinkin' tha' it might not be such a good idea ta just pick up the boy right off the isle when we get there. If'n ya believe wot the sailors 'ave said, the kingdom'll boot us right back where we came from. They'll easily see an' defeat us. An' then there's tha' Night Fury the boy's got. It ain't goin' ta let us anywhere near 'Iccup. It'll blow us all ta bits before we get wit'in twenty feet of 'im. Between the island and the dragon, there's no way we kin get at 'im wit'out committin' suicide. I don't 'ave a clue as ta wot ta do."

It was clear that Alvin had confided this in no one else.

Ashlynne looked thoughtful. "I don't know how to solve the dragon problem, but we could lure him away from the island, couldn't we?"

"He's too smart to be enticed like tha'. 'E might be a little too trusting and naive, perhaps, but we'd 'ave ta have some good bait to fool him," Alvin brushed away her idea.

"But we do have some good bait…" Ashlynne challenged. "_Me_."

Alvin was still for a few seconds. Then he erupted into boisterous laughter. "Ha ha, ya've done it again, me girl! I knew ya'd come up with somethin'! Don't know why I didn't think tha' up meself. But tha's a perfect plan!

"Yer an assassin, sneaky an' the like. Yer also a master of disguise and outstandin' in imitations. If'n you kin sneak onta tha' island an' pretend ta be a villager, an' pretend ta be Hiccup's friend, ya kin lead him right ta us! There's still tha' Night Fury ta deal with, but if'n we kin catch 'em by surprise, we could stand a chance!"

"I know, Alvin. I've already got a plan up my sleeve," Ashlynne smiled wickedly. "As for the dragon, don't worry about it. Once I've got the boy far enough away from it, I'll take care of it."

Alvin chuckled. "I don't disagree with ya, girl. Not one liddle bit. I know my assassin." He gazed at her with an odd fondness.

He snapped back to the plot. "Anyway, we'll certainly 'ave ta land off the island somewhere if'n we don't wanna be seen by anyone. We'll 'ave ta go up an' tell the crew we won't be headin' straight for Corona anymore. Come on." He gestured roughly to usher her back onto the deck, picking up his heavy battleaxe in the process.

At the bow of the ship, Alvin suddenly turned to his assassin. "Oh, Ashlynne, I forgot ta tell ya somethin' back there. I know ya have a tendency ta bring back me prisoners dead, 'cause ya lose yer temper. I know 'ow it is. Now I've been forgivin' in the past—"

Ashlynne grimaced. Alvin _was_ more merciful to her than to the other tribe members, but his version of "forgiving"—ten lashes with a normal whip (as opposed to a dragon whip) and a day without food or water—was very much different from hers.

"—but this time, ya better not fail me. This is too important ta mess up. I need tha' boy alive, or we can't take over the Isle of Berk an' get revenge on Stoick the Vast. It'll be better fer yer health, too, girl. Ya know I care about ya a lot, but ya also know wot 'appens ta those who fail the great Alvin the Treacherous, regardless o' who they are." He slammed the edge of his axe blade deep into the side of the ship.

Ashlynne had never really been afraid of Alvin, as they were close. But now that she was seeing this side of him, the side that killed and asked questions later, directed at _her_, she felt a morbid fear. She gulped as she watched the blade quiver in the woodwork. She did know what happened to the failures of Alvin's tribe; she had watched every time it occurred.

It wasn't the fact that failing Vikings were being brutally executed. She was an assassin, after all; killing was her occupation.

It was _whom_ Alvin executed that scared her.

Even his right-hand man wasn't safe, as one of them had been put to death once. Alvin had even had his own sister slain because she had had trouble adjusting to the Outcast way just after they had been banished. Savage, Alvin's current second-in-command and childhood best friend, always lived in fear of displeasing his chief.

If Savage was that terrified that Alvin would have him executed, Ashlynne had no doubt that he wouldn't care if _she_ had to die, despite their deep relationship with one another.

Alvin pulled his axe out of the wood and turned to her. He smiled sadly at her, and it seemed for a moment as though he _would_ be truly sorry if she were killed.

"I would hate ta have ta do tha' ta ya…

"…_daughter_."

...

Hope yall like the nice ol' plot twist there ;)

See deviantART for more details on this chapter.


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